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Hector

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About Hector

  • Birthday 12/29/1941

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Maryland USA

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  1. Popular sweetener is toxic for dogs A sugar substitute found in a variety of sugar-free and dietetic cookies, mints and chewing gum is proving highly toxic, even fatal, to snack-snatching dogs. Xylitol, popular in Europe for decades but a relative newcomer to the U.S. alternative-sweeteners market, can be "very, very serious" to dogs when ingested, says Dana Farbman, spokeswoman for the Animal Poison Control Center of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "It doesn't take a whole lot (of xylitol), and the effects are so rapid that the window of opportunity to treat the dog is extremely small," Farbman says.
  2. Updated news story about the recall: USA Today Contaminated Pet Food Story
  3. He really is a sweet handsome boy. Your commitment to taking care of him is wonderful.
  4. Yes, it is wonderful that the people got down alive and well, and their dog definitely played a major role in this happy ending. But as a long term mountaineer, the story doesn't give me a warm happy feeling. News reports say the climbing group were experienced rock climbers but not experienced mountaineers. That figures. Experienced mountaineers would not have been on Mt. Hood in winter with those extremely harsh weather conditions. The fact that three people fell at one time is a strong indicator that they were in way over their heads. In the Grand Teton National Park there are regulations that require anyone who goes climbing any time of year to first obtain a permit from National Park Service rangers. The rangers know the weather forecast and they can assess the experience level of the applicants. They can check their gear to make sure the party is properly prepared for the planned climbing trip. I don't understand why the authorities in the Mt. Hood area don't implement a similar program to require climbing permits. The inexperienced climbers are the people most likely to get into trouble on the mountain. One would think that the rescue people would get tired of expending time and effort, while putting their own lives at risk, to rescue inept climbers who never should have been on the mountain at that time. The fact that three climbers died on Mt. Hood in December should have made a stronger impression on people. I generally prefer to see regulations kept to a minimum, but some people need to be protected from their own ignorance.
  5. Glad he is home safe. I have a deep feeling of appreciation for those who serve in the US Military. They are the reason we have our freedom today. Yipes, that is a lot of money for the flowers. Hmmm, I wonder if he might rather have an equal value in Filet Mignon -- tenderloin steak? Flowers are beautiful but steak tastes really good. Just a thought -- ignore it if it sounds dumb.
  6. I have a Canon Powershot S2 IS (Image Stabilizer) that I really like. It is 5 megapixels and has a 12x optical zoom and a 4x digital zoom. It has Image Stabilizer feature so you don't blur the picture by moving the camera. This is very important for telephoto shots. Here are two sample pictures. The wild rabbit lives in our back yard area. The picture was taken at full zoom (optical + digital) so it is 48x zoom. The airplane is a supersonic Concorde passenger plane, now retired from service. It is on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. This plane flew from New York to London in just over 3 hours at a speed of 1200 mph. Canon replaced the S2 camera with the S3. I am sure that the S3 is better, but you may be able to get a good buy on an S2 since they are now discontinued. Here is a link to a Review of the Canon S2.
  7. Sorry about Riven's/your recall problem. I guess it is your problem since Riven doesn't seem to understand that she has a problem!!! Sounds like you have received a lot of good advice and now you have some work cut out for you. On the subject of recall, one time I saw a demonstration of recall that amazed me. It was what I think a really excellent recall should look like. I was on a hike in the mountains with my friend Rick and his dog, a Golden Retriever. We were almost at the summit and it was gently sloping terrain, covered by small flat rocks with almost no vegetation. We got to talking about dogs and training, and then Rick said "watch this!" He put his thumb and index finger up to his mouth and whistled. The dog was 100 feet away, sniffing and snooping around in typical doggy fashion. Instantly the dog took off like a rocket, running straight at Rick. There wasn't a tenth of a second delay. As the dog got close he put on the brakes and slowed way down. He walked toward the right side of Rick, circled directly behind him, and stopped on Rick's left side. Then the dog went into a "sit" position, turned his head upward, and looked Rick straight in the eye. It was as if the dog was saying "okay, here I am, hope that was fast enough, what do you want me to do next???" I was highly impressed. What a beautiful recall.
  8. If a dog is hungry and thinks it must compete with another dog for food, then that alone will promote very fast eating. If you can isolate Cooper and feed him when no other dogs are around, that MAY help. One technique, if you have a big open floor space (kitchen or recreation room) is to take the food in a bowl and then by hand sprinkle a small portion on the floor. If you kind of gently toss it so the food is scattered, then the dog must move to each piece of kibble to eat it. That moving around slows the speed at which the dog can eat. Plus if you are only giving out a small handful at a time, he can't keep eating it all so fast that he chokes on it.
  9. That was a serious error to leave the puppy out in the cold. Glad to hear he is okay. Termination of your friend is sad, but in my opinion the punishment fits the crime.
  10. ROFL! Very funny! Anybody with walks/driveway to shovel in Denver needs a 2-stage snowblower. Such a machine would cut through the snow blocking your driveway. So far this winter in Baltimore the total snowfall is about three inches. Living next to the Chesapeake Bay moderates the winter weather. That suits me just fine! But in the old days back in Utah I shoveled plenty of snow.
  11. Just found this link to: Index to NOAA Weather Radio on the Internet There are 89 stations around the USA. This will be useful for obtaining local weather forecasts. To hear a station, click on the "Listen" button for the station.
  12. Glad to hear that you are back to the modern world of electricity. Wow that is an impressive big ice storm. No wonder so many people lost power in your area. I guess the good news is that the true branches didn't clobber your Jeep.
  13. I am glad that the owners got their dogs and truck back. Everything turned out well. Here is a website that gives Tips For Auto Theft Prevention. It is interesting that their #1 tip is "Never leave your car running unattended, even to dash into a business, store, etc. This entire problem would not have occurred if the owners had heeded that advice. Another tip is "Never leave valuables in plain view, even if your car is locked. Put them in the trunk out of sight." The Denver Post article stated that woman left her purse on the car seat -- that was their second mistake. This website says that a vehicle is stolen in the USA every 21 minutes, on average. That is 68 vehicle thefts per day. If a person is intent on NOT being a victim of car/truck theft, then it would pay to observe the tips. I will be doing some things differently as the result of reading this website. My niece had her 2004 Chrysler minivan stolen from the parking lot of a supermarket where she worked. The only thing that would have prevented that theft would have been some anti-theft device(s). The vehicle was used by the criminals in a bank robbery. They finally got it back about 25 days after the original theft. The insurance company paid to have it refurbished, as the thieves had done a lot of damage to it. Not a good experience.
  14. Denver post report of stolen BCs This report says the couple left their truck running while they were loading and checking out of hotel.
  15. Hope you get power back on soon. Wow, that must be tough! Just wondering, do many people run gasoline-powered electric generators? If yes, does that make life reasonably livable during a power outage? Hector
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