Have you noticed that the Bay Area is becoming more dog-friendly all the time? On any given day, there are lots of puppy play groups, dog boutiques, training classes, sporting events, fundraising extravangas, and pet expos available for your education and entertainment.
To celebrate this state of affairs, we are delighted to launch the first annual Beast of the Bay Awards. We want to know what dog-centric people, places, and things you most utilize and appreciate. The ballot provides lots of categories for you to mull over, and we encourage you to invent your own. Please take a look and woof back by voting for your favorite rescue group, the freshest water bowl in the city, and the best dog massage (to name just a few) by January 10, 2009. Please vote only once, and make it count by filling in all the blanks. We’ll be sharing the results in our second anniversary issue (March 2009, to be released February 15) as a way of saluting the best, the brightest, and the quirkiest of the local dog world.
As usual, we highlight some of the Bay Area’s best in these very pages. Popular dogwalker and SF/SPCA trainer Kim Moeller provides priceless tips for small dog health and happiness. Take her advice to heart and your little pup can thrive in the big, scary city. You’ll want to give The Milo Foundation a hearty cheer after you’ve read Ava’s Healing Journey – without Milo, this beautiful pup simply would not exist. Then there’s For Pits’ Sake, an advocacy organization for the wisely misunderstood Pit Bull, which has launched a truly inspiring campaign to take any remaining “cool” out of dog fighting for young people.
Dog lovers have big hearts, and Linda Chwistek’s is plainly evident in this issue. She tells us about her volunteer Pit Bull training efforts in this month’s Good Dog! column and describes life with Audie, a Pit mix formerly owned by Michael Vick. In the Shelter Zone, we shine a spotlight on the Teen All-star Program at Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF), a volunteer training opportunity for young animal lovers – the dog saviors of the future.
Of course, dogs have big hearts, too – not to mention big ears that are prone to infection. John Huebner of Vallejo’s Redwood Veterinary Hospital explains how to prevent and treat such problems.
We hope you will read, reflect, and send your thoughts to editor@baywoof.com. And enjoy the last lovely weeks of summer!
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