TODAY’S SPECIAL GUEST BLOGGER: Me.
I’m filling in for Jennifer who is on a dog blog hiatus, but plans to return next week.
Since I’m in charge this week, let’s get a couple things straight. No, we still don’t have a dog. Just about everywhere I go, people I see engage in conversation that usually goes like this:
“Hi. How are you? Didja get a dog yet? Have you gained weight?”
No dog yet. Baby first. Then dog. Then I move into the garage.
Let’s talk doggie politics. In a previous Barking Lot, we passed along the story that California is considering a proposal regarding dogs and driving.
Politicians have gone doggone crazy, suggesting we ban cell phones while driving. They’re a distraction you know. We also need to ban texting while driving, they tell us.
But why stop there? Why not Egg McMuffins, newspapers, radio’s, CD players, video displays, coffee cups, lipstick, toothbrushes, other passengers (they’ll talk or even nag and that’s distracting, no?).
In that often crazy world called California, legislators want to ban holding a dog on your lap while driving. The idea is not only silly, it’s unnecessary.
Like Wisconsin that has a law against inattentive driving that addresses all of the concerns about distractions, California has a law that prohibits people from driving with their view obstructed or if there is interference with their control of the vehicle. There is no prohibition against pets moving around freely in vehicles. So your dog or cat can bounce around wild in the back seat, but California lawmakers don’t want you to hold your pet on your lap.
A Republican California Assemblyman has come up with his foolishness. Bill Maze’s bill would prohibit people from driving while holding a live animal in their arms or lap. Get caught (because the California Highway Patrol has nothing better to do than to keep their eyes out for dogs on drivers’ laps) and you pay a fine of $35-$100.
Think this silly bill can’t become law? Guess again. Remember, this is California we’re talking about. The bill has already been approved in the Assembly and is now before the Senate. Time is running out, however. The legislative session in California ends August 31. If the Senate does approve the measure by the end of the month, it would still need to be approved by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The California Highway Patrol has been keeping track of the top ten distractions involved in accidents. Guess where “animal” ranks? Ninth.
According to a California legislative document on the proposed bill, AB 2233, “From 2002 through 2007, there were just 755 collisions, three of which involved a fatality, where an associated factor was listed as "animal." The same document says, “Animals sitting on one's lap may be calmer and thus less distracting than those engaged in other behaviors that would continue to be permitted under this bill.”
Like a bone in the backyard, this bill needs to be buried.
Time now for DOGS IN THE NEWS, canines that made headlines the past week.
As I've said in the past, the news isn't always good. Such is the case in this disturbing story from Maryland where an overzealous group of police officers stormed the home of a local mayor and needlessly shot and killed two dogs. The FBI is investigating. Read more about what happened.
Is the puppy clone-owner a former sex kidnapper?
How about some good news.....watch puppies rescued from a floor.
Why does your dog yawn? He/she may not be tired. But you might be.
The number of ways to pamper your dog keeps getting bigger and bigger.
Just yesterday, I got one of those e-mails that circulates everywhere, the kind that has you wondering if it's true or false. This was about a dog with three legs. Turns out the story's legit.
This weekend at the Wisconsin State Fair, it's the National Diving Dog Tour.
And finally, what are you getting your dog for ELVIS Week? ELVIS Week begins today. May I suggest the 68 Special scroll dog collar, a Hound Dog Alley street sign, the Burning Love squeezer dog, and for you ladies, the Hound Dog necklace.
I kinda like this item.
That's it for this week. Thanks for stopping by. We close with, appropriately, the King, who knew all too well how good dogs really have it.
