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Influence Positively Questionnaire - Jack Gaber

Jack Gaber is a six year old rescued Weimaraner residing in Phoenix, AZ with his humans Pam and Mike Gaber. He also has a Rhodesian Ridgeback brother named Noah and a cat named Orzo.

Jack is a certified Therapy Dog with Gabriel’s Angels that works with at-risk teenage boys. He teaches them compassion, empathy and trust topped off with a dose of unconditional love! www.GabrielsAngels.org

What natural gift would you most like to possess?

I wish I was a better swimmer. I grew up in Albany, NY so no need to learn swimming techniques. Now that I live in AZ and have a pool in my back yard swimming would be a great way to cool down. Unfortunately, I am a vertical swimmer, splash everywhere and don’t cover much territory while in the pool. My mom and dad try to help me dog paddle and I try but it is not my natural gift I guess.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

I love playing and when my brother Noah (Ridgeback) is in the mood I run like the wind around the yard enticing him to follow me. He is old (almost 10 years) so his desire to play is sporadic at best. I am so happy when I am running so fast that my big weim ears flap in the wind. I like speed!

Dog Changes World

Since choosing to adopt a dog from the SF/SPCA five years ago, I have become a fan of both pet adoption and mix-breed mutts. Growing up, my mother owned several pure bred Dobermans that she bought from breeders and we had one litter of puppies ourselves. My understanding of "pound puppies" was that they were mostly strays and feral animals only appropriate for farms and large country properties where they could roam and forage for their food. They certainly were not meant to be “pets” for households. This period was the 1970s and now I find that my perception was common because the laws reflected the same attitude. It was legal at this time to “destroy an animal like a piece of furniture” as Richard Avanzino so aptly puts it.

Richard Avanzino is the former director of the San Francisco SPCA. In 1979 he found himself spearheading the start of the no-kill movement all because of an adorable dog-called Sido.

Sido’s owner committed suicide and left instructions in her will that Sido be destroyed at the veterinarian, because she was afraid no one would show the proper care for her sweet girl. Sido a small mix dog, was ten years old at the time, with an engaging personality. When the executor of her deceased owner’s will tried to force the issue of having Sido put down, the SF/SPCA and Avanzino said they would fight with all their might.

Soon reporters then lawmakers in Sacramento discovered that Sido deserved another chance.

"State Sen. Marz Garcia (R-Menlo Park) wrote a bill, passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, which overturned the portion of Murphy's will calling for Sido's death.

The very next day, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Jay Pfotenhauer ruled that the right to dispose of property after death does not extend to killing a living creature."

Avanzino is no longer with the SF/SPCA but he runs an Alameda-based charity called Maddie’s Fund whose goal is to make America a no-kill nation by 2015. Across our country there are communities and cities striving to focus on adoption, spay and neuter programs and better medical care rather than using death as a humane method for our homeless pet population.

She Changed our World
Because of Sido and Avanzino, today we have a gorgeous large rescue dog ourselves. I have no doubt if Cleo had been around at the time of Sido, she would have be euthanized. Instead we have had her already for five years and hopefully we have at least five more together.   In every way she is "treatable" and worthy of being someone's pet for as long as she is alive.

Given our experience with Cleo and what was her second chance was truly our lucky day, I am forever grateful to Sido and Avanzino.

To learn more -

Saving Sido: How one dog sparked a movement by Christie Keith

Maddie's Fund

No-Kill Conference in Washington DC

Influence Positively Questionnaire - Neil Brogan

Neil Brogan is the creator of Life With Dogs and the crazed cartoonist behind the antics of Nigel Buggers, a notorious trouble making Greyhound. A dog lover from birth, he has sacrificed part of a lip and a third of a pinkie finger to dog bites, and continues to strive for animal equality by putting the word out as urgent animal rights issues arise.

He resides in Vermont with his patient wife, three dogs, and long suffering cat, Cracker. When he's not blogging, you can find him lazing in a local river with his pack, or pulling his hair out at his day job as the VP of a bustling technology company.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

A sunny summer day spent frolicking in the river with the dogs. It's an easy way to forget the rest of the world and just be. We are lucky to have water on our property, because the Labs would never forgive me if they had to go without!

If you could come back as a dog or a cat, which one would it be & why?

This is a no brainer. A dog. I'd like to have a personality. ;)

Cutting Our Pets' Carbon Paw Print

Paw Prints in the Sand

Living in San Francisco, we are used to seeing at public places various bins to separate our landfill trash from our compostable scraps and recycling items. We even have a city and county law now that requires you to compost certain items at home or face a fine. I am always on alert now wherever I travel for choosing products and foods that have minimal packaging. I carry my own bags, unless I want a paper bag to reuse later. This thought process extends to my dog too.

As a responsible dog owner in the city, I can’t think of a time when I have not picked up after my dog. Even at the beach, where many leave their pets waste for the sand and sea to claim it, I pick up her poop. I used to be satisfied with reusing plastic bags from the store or my newspaper for this pooper-scooper job. San Francisco doesn’t compost dog poop yet.

Our pets poop carries pathogens that can be harmful to humans, and the compost San Francisco generates is used on multiple landscaping and garden projects. The city government is working on a program that would take the 4% of animal waste that currently goes into the landfill turning it into methane that could be used for fuel.

Cutting Cleo's Carbon Paw Print

Influence Positively Questionnaire - Shauna Stewart

We have started a weekly questionnaire called Influence Positively featuring pets (who have humans who type for them) and people answering five questions. The common thread is that everyone who answers will be involved in pet adoption, community involvement, pet advocacy and related areas we care about.

We want to highlight some of the decent qualities and unspoken traits found in individuals who make up our world. They are the fabric of our society and demonstrate how to give fearlessly. Here is our third participant in the series:

 

Shauna lives on the west coast of Canada, with her husband and two dogs. She writes for a blog called Fido & Wino  about dogs and wine and going to the gym and trying to be zen.

Shauna launched the R.O.A.R. Squad in April 2010. It stands for Rescue Owners Are Rockin’ and the Grand Master Plan there is to highlight how incredibly COOL inviting rescue animals into your home is. In the next year she is going to recruit people from every province in Canada and every state in the U.S.A. to join. It’s going to be awesome.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

I am really, very happy right now. At the risk of sounding completely annoying, I'd have to say that what I've got going on right now is fabulously, imperfectly perfect: - Cool hubby who finds my quirks amusing and plays hide-and-go-seek in tall grass with my dogs: Check! - Goofy dogs who remind me not to take myself too seriously: Check! - Family and friends who love and support me: Check! Okay, but if I HAD to answer: A pleasantly full glass of Cabernet Sauvignon in hand, lounging on a dog-friendly patio (perfectly behaved dogs asleep at my feet) along side my family and friends on a sunny Friday afternoon that never ends. Sigh.

My beloved is aging and cataracts in dogs

How did this happen? It seems like only yesterday my sweet girl was running like a crazy windup toy and getting into one scrap after the next. When did she suddenly become so slow in her movements? Where did all those little spots on her muzzle and on the tip of her nose come from? My girl Cleo has recently begun to show signs of slowing down.

At first, honestly I was happy. I thought to myself that she was finally becoming mature - now I am not sure so. We have stairs that she needs to take to go out into the backyard or to head off to bed at night. There are no short cuts.

A year ago, she was a little off balance but she mostly hustled herself up or down the stairs without much fear or hesitation. Today, Cleo sniffs each tread and gingerly steps down one stair and paw at a time. Near the end of a set, she will sometimes try to rush it and skip a step just to make the landing and level ground faster.

Recently we looked into her eyes and around the edge of one eye it seemed as if she has a cloudy piece of material in it. Could she be developing cataracts in her eyes? She is a rescue dog so we are limited on any specific hereditary diagnoses - which is the most common cause of cataracts in dogs according to Animal Eye Care LLC. We can guess her age within a few years based on her teeth. Every other clue has to come from observation by the vet and us.

As responsible pet owners, we know the best thing we can do is watch and learn from Cleo. What are her normal habits and routines? Have they changed recently?  I frequently feel her up and down like a cop frisking a robbery suspect.

Influence Positively Questionnaire: Yvonne DiVita

We have started a new weekly questionnaire called Influence Positively that features pets (who have humans who type for them) and people answering five questions.  The common thread is that everyone is involved in pet adoption, community involvement, pet advocacy and related areas we care about.  We want to highlight some of the decent qualities and unspoken traits found in individuals who make up our world. They are the fabric of our society and demonstrate how to give fearlessly.

Yvonne DiVita is the founder of the popular women's network, lipsticking. A passionate pet blogger, Yvonne is the blogger behind ScratchingsandSniffings and manages and contributes to a pet health insurance blog for PurinaCareR at Purinacareblog. She brings a background in the veterinary technology field to her work with BlogPaws. In December 2009, she was cited as one of the100 Smartest People in Social Media by Smarter Social Media. Her blog, Lip-sticking, was cited in 2009 by Forbes Woman's Magazine as one of the 20 Best Marketing and Social Media Blogs by women. Today, her focus is on BlogPaws - with Caroline Golon and Tom Collins.

What is your idea of perfect happiness? 

My idea of perfect happiness would be living on a ranch with lots of pets, and knowing I could care for them properly. Ideally, that would be here in Colorado, where the dogs, cats, ferrets, chickens...whatever...would have a lot of room to play in. I would love' em to pieces! I can see myself on the front porch with my coffee every morning, and then...in my office in the afternoon, blogging about them.

Man Reunited With Childhood Friend Gorilla

A wonderful example of unconditional love and how it never fades.

Influence Positively Questionnaire: Jane Harrell

We have started a new weekly questionnaire called Influence Positively that features pets (who have humans who type for them) and people answering five questions. The common thread is that everyone is involved in pet adoption, community involvement, pet advocacy and related areas we care about. We want to highlight some of the decent qualities and unspoken traits found in individuals who make up our world. They are the fabric of our society and demonstrate how to give fearlessly.

Jane Harrell is a communications and marketing professional specializing in nonprofits and the animal welfare field.  She is an Associate Producer, Petfinder.com at Discovery Communications.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

There was this one time while I was working with the MSPCA Boston Adoption Center -- I'd fallen madly in love with a white Pit Bull named Earhart. She was the sweetest, most docile girl ever and adopters just kept overlooking her because she was a Pit and an adult dog. She was at the shelter for a long time (though not the longest I'd seen) and no one showed interest. Then one day I was sweaty and grimy and covered in just about everything you can be covered in from working at a shelter.

I walked past the dog adoption floor and saw a man stopped in front of Earhart's kennel. Long story short, he and his partner fell just as madly in love with Earhart as I had. They brought Earhart (renamed Molly) home and now have a little sign outside their home that says "Welcome to Molly's home." That's perfect happiness.

If you could come back as a dog or a cat, which one would it be & why?

Definitely a dog. I know most of my friends won't believe me since I'm so involved with cats, but it's a lifestyle thing. Dogs are community-thinkers. Cats, well, not so much.