Earthquake in IL!?

I was awakened at 430ish this morning from a dead sleep when I realized my bed shaking was not in my dream. I jumped from bed not able to comprehend what woke me up "What the heck is that!" I said, and my husband said "It's an earthquake." Having never experienced one in my life, I was quite scared as the house shook, rattled, and a weird hum roared through the house for several seconds. We're all ok and no damange noted yet this morning. We discovered this morning that it was a 5.4 originating south of us about an hour.

Human Allergies

We know that some breeds are considered hypoallergenic but I didn't understand fully what the terminology meant. I ran across this description with a list of breeds and I was amazed. There is quite a list of breeds! The Cairn Terrier is listed, however I didn't see the Norwich Terrier listed. They have the same type of hard coat, so I was surprised. I have severe environmental allergies and react with hives on my arms from our Doberman. But I do not react to the Cairn or Norwich. As this website states, no breed is 100% hypoallergenic. I also found it interesting that poodle crosses are not necessary hypoallergenic. So just crossing a poodle with a random breed does not mean the offspring are going to have the hypoallergenic characteristic, which is a reason some breeders may do these crosses. I always recommend to families that if you have allergies in the family, visit a breed in person before purchasing. There is nothing worse than having to give up a family pet after you've become attached when a member of the family can't tolerate them due to allergies.

Health benefits of owning pets

Pet owners experience a reduction in psychological and physiolgical ailments compared to non-pet owners. I knew pets could lower blood pressure, combat depression, stress, and loneliness. Pet therapy programs are successful in treating patients for various disorders. I found this list of specific data about the health benefits owning pets. Check it out! http://www.deltasociety.org/AnimalsHealthGeneralReasons.htm

Oprah's segment on puppy mills

I was pleasantly surprised to find today's Oprah show a fair, balanced and objective report. They brought light to the issue of puppy mills which supply pet stores and urged families not to purchase puppies from pet stores. They stated to adopt from rescue, which I strongly agree with. I'm an affiliate of Col Potter Cairn rescue and recommend adopting if your family is able http://www.cairnrescue.com/. It is a loving organization rescuing and rehoming thousand's of Cairn Terriers from poor home environments, puppy mills, and abuse. I waited for the hate against all breeders message, but they didn't say that at all. In fact, they said they aren't worried about ethical breeders, because they don't hear from ethical breeders. Ethical breeders take their own puppies back and are not part of the pet overpopulation issue. They educated about spay/neuter and urged owners to be responsible pet owners by spaying & neutering their pets. They showed how simple a neuter surgery is and gave facts about the 99-100% reduction of mammary and testicular cancers in spayed/neutered pets. I thought it was well done, heart tugging but not pure propoganda, very objective and realistic reporting. The part that brought tears to my eyes, were the shelter dogs who were being euthanized only because of the lack of space. It is a serious problem, and the reason that mass production of puppies and sales of puppies through stores is unethical. Families purchase them on impulse or with inaccurate information, have no where to turn for assistance when their cute puppy develops behavior problems, and they are dumped in shelters. Pet stores don't take adults back and we know breeding farms or puppy mills certainly don't. It breaks my heart to see so many otherwise healthy animals, who just happened to wind up in the wrong home, euthanized because they have no where to go. This is not propoganda or sensationalizing, it's a real problem in our nation. I'm continually amazed at how many people do not know what a puppy mill is (and I've seen far worse than shown on the show today). I'm amazed that some show breeders label ethical breeders who don't happen to play the game of showing, puppy mills. Since we know what a true "puppy mill" is, this is an abusive phrase inappropriate applied to those who ethically and passionately breed for the love of the breed and their dogs. I'm amazed at how many pet stores "claim" to purchase from breeders when in fact, no ethical breeder will sell to a pet store. I'm amazed at how much of the public doesn't understand what ethical breeding is and that we should never purchase from pet stores. I'm delighted that the public was shown this message by Oprah and support the message in today's show. I hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did. For more information, go to http://www2.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200804/tows_past_20080404.jhtml?promocode=HP21