Martha Stewart Talks Dog Grooming and Making Yarn From Dog Fur
Martha Stewart takes her beautiful chow Paw Paw gets groomed at a Manhattan dog spa and dog apparel retailer called Parierro. Chow Chow gets dematted and gets his nails clipped. Paw Paw also gets washed and has hit teeth brushed. In a blog post Martha Stewart shows how a company named VIP Fibers to spin yarn collected from the fur of your beloved pet. They made some yarn from Paw Paw's fur.
Here is a brief rundown of the Ellen and Iggy ordeal.
Ellen Dengeneres and Portia de Rossi adopted a pet dog named Iggy from an adoption agency named Mutts & Moms.
Ellen and Portia were unhappy with how Iggy was interacting with their cats so Ellen decided to give Iggy to her haidresser who has two daughters 11 and 12.
Ellen had signed a contract with Mutts & Moms that forbid her from giving Iggy to any other family if she decided not to keep him as a pet. Iggy had to be returned to Mutts & Moms.
Mutts & Moms reclaimed the pet from Ellen's hairdresser's family.
Ellen then issued an emotional appeal on her show begging Mutts & Moms to return the dog to the hairdresser's famiy.
Ellen's appeal resulted in some of Ellen's crazier fans issuing death threats against Marina Baktis, the women who runs Mutts & Moms.
The latest news is that Ellen has said the reaction has gotten out of hand. She says he won't talk about it anymore on the show unless somehow Iggy is returned to her hairdresser's family.
On Petfinder's website there is a statement that says "Mutts and Mom has chosen to temporarily inactivate their website on Petfinder.com because their email inbox and voice mail are overwhelmed." They also explain why most shelters and rescue groups insist, through their adoption agreements, that if a pet cannot stay with his adoptive family, the adopters must return him to the group.
Between 500,000 and 1 million pets adopted from shelters and rescue groups find themselves homeless and in the shelter once again.
One foster mom said it best, "I found the dog on the street, starving. I nursed her back to health. She slept in my bed. I sang her back to sleep when she had nightmares when she first came to me. Then I adopted her to a wonderful family. A year later, I got a call from animal control because she was at the shelter and she was going to be euthanized. The family had gotten divorced and she ended up on death row!"
This too-common experience leads rescue groups and shelter to put strict policies in place governing what happens if the adoption doesn't work out. In effect, the rescue group and shelters are promising to always be there as a safety net for the pets. This can be very comforting to adopters.
Despite the plea from Ellen the issue isn't dying out and columnists and bloggers are continuing to discuss the story. Here's a roundup of some other posts and news articles.
The Pet Haven says Ellen's wrong doesn't make the shelter right. "This shelter is worried about the wrong things, and their practices of not placing the dog in the forefront makes me wonder about dealing with shelters as a whole."
12-year-old Ruby, the daughter of Ellen's hairstylist, says she loves Iggy and she just wants him back.
An article on PetConnection.com says, "Even if DeGeneres should have contacted them, even if she should have read the contract, even if she had demonstrated Britney-esque levels of celebrity 'your laws do not apply to me' ego (which she did not), isn't the important thing the well-being of the dog rather than the letter of the contract? What matters more, his happiness or some arbitrary age cut-off?"
Dogster has a thread about Ellen, Iggy and Mutts and Moms.
Ellen's statements can also be found here and here on the show's website.
My Friendly Pets asks, "Why couldn’t the rescue organization, investigate and interview the family as potential owners without disrupting the dog and the adjustment he had made to his new home? It seems to me to be cruel to the dog to have so many changes in its young life."
Animal Hubub: "My opinion is that since Ellen gave him to her hairdresser, whom she knew and trusted, and who also loved Iggy, isn't that all that really matters?"
A Washington Post blog explains a way for Ellen to get out of the doghouse.
A blog called Celebrity Dog Watcher says Iggy has been given to a different home.
Reuters reports that there is an unusual new book out about Pope Benedict XVI that tells his life story. What's unusual about the book is that it is narrated by a cat named Chico. Chico is a real cat who knew the Pope when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. The book is called Chico and Joseph -- A Cat Recounts the Life of Pope Benedict XVI.
"Dear Children, here you will find a biography that is different to others because it is told by a cat and it is not every day a cat can consider the Holy Father his friend and sit down to write his life story," the Pope's personal secretary, Monsignor Georg Ganswein, says in the foreword.
"Chico and Joseph -- A Cat Recounts the Life of Pope Benedict XVI" is narrated by Chico who took up with the Pope in his native Germany when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
The illustrated 44-page book is written by Italian author Jeanne Perego and set mostly in Germany in the years before Benedict was elected in April 2005.
Chico is a real cat who belongs to a German couple in the German city of Pentling, where the Pope lived until he moved to Rome in 1981. The couple are caretakers of the house where Ratzinger had hoped to retire had he not been elected Pope.
Chico tells the story of the life of "my best friend" from his birth in Germany in 1927, through his days as a young man, priest, bishop and cardinal. It ends with his election as Pope on April 19, 2005.
A Telegrapharticle says the Pope is a friend of cats and he used to "feed hordes of strays that congregated outside his apartment" when he was a Cardinal. The news articles suggest the book is out now but we couldn't find any results when we searched for the title on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. It will probably show up there in a week or two - unless it is going to be sold elsewhere.
Here is a brief rundown of the Ellen and Iggy ordeal.
