dog grooming

hello, i'm joe larkins. welcome to this editionof "your family pet." on tonight's show you'll hearthe heartwarming story of tar. we'll tell you what to do ifyou've lost or found an animal. we'll explore therewards of fostering. and you'll meet professionalpet photographer jack kenner. all this and much more on thisedition of "your family pet." (female announcer) production funding for "your family pet" is made possible in part bymemphis veterinary specialists,

a referral based specialtyhospital serving the needs of small animals offeringdiagnostic tools and treatment options not typically foundoutside veterinary teaching hospitals including orthopedicand neurologic surgery, oncology,dermatology, dentistry, ophthalmology,internal medicine and more. and by.. [theme music] admit it.

we love our pets. they're a part of our families,so it's not surprising that americans will spend upwards of$15 billion dollars this year for veterinary care. most visits to thevet are routine, but sometimes our pets' healthissues are much more serious and require procedures thatare practiced at only a few veterinary medical centers and hospitals throughout the country.

such was the case with neville and warfield williams' dog, tar. this is tar, a five-year-oldpurebred german shepherd. today he's an active, healthydog playing fetch with his owner, warfield williams. but that wasn't the casejust a few months ago. it was this past september inthe middle of the night when he couldn't settle and wasbumping in to furniture. and he never does that.

i mean, he does not. once he's down,.. i mean, yes, he'llget up and move, change spots. but he doesn't.. he never wasbumping in to furniture. (joe) they made a late nighttrip to the animal emergency hospital expecting adiagnosis of hip dysplasia. but the x-rays revealedthat his hips were normal.

so, they went back home. the three of us were in theback yard just relaxing after an anxious day. and he fell over on to hishind quarters and could not get himself back up immediately. and he had never done that inthe four-and-a-half years that we had him. and the next morning, warfieldpicked him up and took him to our vet and doctornollner at green animal.

and they ran some tests. and they came backnegative on the, um, on his hips. but said.. she called warfield late that afternoon and said it's his heart. (cris)doctor nollner's tests revealeda third degree heart blockage, a condition resulting from adisruption in the electrical impulses thatmake the heart beat.

doctor nollner wrote: "tar'sheart did not conduct this electrical impulsein a normal way. there was a pause in conductionand the bottom part of his heart was not always gettingthe signal to beat." it was a devastating diagnosis,but neville's reaction was instinctive. well, how are wegoing to fix this? i mean, what are we going to do? because he was tooyoung just to let it go.

and so, we talked. you know, what is the outcome? what are we going to do? and she said, "well, what wedo is he needs a pace maker." so, on a wednesday, we packedup the car with tar and food and us. and he had an appointmentthat thursday for surgery. (cris)doctor sophy jesty of the u-tcollege of veterinary medicine in knoxville performed thesurgery on tar to implant a

human pacemakersimilar to this one. and like the humanpacemaker in this x-ray, tar's pacemaker rests justunderneath the skin on his neck with wires running to his heart. you can feel it a little bit now. but now that hishair has grown back, i mean, youcertainly don't see it. i know it's there buti don't think he does. my daddy and my doghave medtronic pacemakers.

(cris)pacemaker surgery on dogsisn't common but surprisingly, it's been performedsuccessfully since 1968, less than ten years afterthe first human implant. tar's prognosis is good. his pacemaker should lastfor the rest of his life. and that makes nevilleand warfield very happy. he's the child. he's our child. he's very sweet.

he's fun. he's affectionate. he's good company. every pet owner's greatestfear is losing their pet. and the trauma of that event ismatched by the confusion over what to do when youfind a lost animal. sarah chats with teresa martin,the administrator of a facebook page dedicated to helpingpet owners get their cherished animals back.

teresa, you are the admin of a page on facebook called lost and found pets of the mid-south. correct? go in to detail about that page. lost and found pets of themid-south is a page where owners of lost pets and finders of lostpets can come together and share with the villageon social media, you know, that they'velost or found a pet. lost and found pets is a lotdifferent than a lot of other

lost and found sites that areout there because what separates this page from any other is theinformation that these people receive on what to do in theirlost or found pet situation. there is specific informationthat i have written that is tailor made for the immediatememphis and the mid-south area which includes all of memphis,all of the surrounding including some of north mississippi. and the reason why i cover justthis area is because all the public access media outlet sitesthat are out there that's access

to john q public such as craigslist and other places like that. i can monitor all those pagesand get in contact with those people and bring those ads to mypage and then educate those lost and found pet posters on whatthey need to do and post more ads and everything that theyneed to get what they need done. and also, be theextra set of eyes. (sarah)right. for instance, a couple of weeksago i found a dog roaming

in my neighborhood. what would have been the firstthing that i needed to do in order to help findthat pet's owner? okay. first of all, if you were tofind the pet and you were to secure that pet, the first thingthat you would do is take it to a vet and have itscanned for a microchip. a microchip is a rice sizedmicrochip that is implanted in a pet.

and it contains theowner's information, the phone number and address. so, you find the pet. you take it to your vet and theyscan the dog and it comes up with a microchip. then you canimmediately get the dog home. if you're able toshelter the dog, i strongly suggestto keep the dog. because all the shelters withinthe memphis and mid-south area

that are city run areusually kill shelters. so, if you're able to keep apet safe and try to locate the owner, that is thebest thing to do. there are manyplaces to initially post. i can easily directyou to my facebook page. but the reality of it is is thatthere are a lot of people out there who are not on facebook. so, one place that theycan post is on craigslist. craigslist has differentsections and they have two that

are dedicated to pets. they have a sectionfor lost and found, which is dedicatedfor lost and found. and then they havea section for pets. i strongly suggest posting yourad if you've lost or found a pet in both of these sections. they are monitored by me andthey are pulled to my page. once i receive or see your post on a public media outlet like that, i contact you.

i send you informationwhich pertains to your specific situation, if you've lostone or if you've found one. and then i pullthe ad to my page. then you're directed to post ads in the commercial appeal free online. post in your local paper. the memphis flyer has a free online on the website on the internet. findmydoggie.com

fidofinder.com and i'll list it in this information. it tells you. and it's like i said. it's tailored forthe memphis area. so, let's talk about waysto prevent all of this. keeping your dogsafe from the get go. making sure they have tags. making sure they are microchipped and trying to keep them

from roaming or gettinglost in the first place. the first thing that you alwayswant to do is keep an i-d on your dog. and it doesn't haveto be anything fancy. it doesn't haveto have his name. a phone number. and you can get this tagsengraved at walmart in the machine for five dollars a tag. they're metal tags.

a good fitting collar. a bright collar. a reflective collar. that will keep your dog safe. okay? in addition to that,you know, it is the law. your dog has tohave rabies tags. it's the law. and these rabies tags can betraced back to the owner because

this tag was issuedspecifically for your dog. so, that in addition with i-dtag and a proper fitting collar, you can also haveyour dog micro chipped. but i really want tostress that a lot of people, when they adoptanimals from shelters, they are micro chipped. you have to register your chip. (sarah)so they have your name. so your name andnumber is current.

if you adopt a dog and ithas a microchip but it has no information on it, imean, it's just not.. it's not.. (sarah)it's not as helpful. no, it's not. it makes it a lot more difficulteven though it can still be traced to wherethe dog originated, where it came from and youcould possibly be located. but it's not 100%.

and definitely, if you move, getyour dog new tags and new i-d. if your phone number changes,keep their tags current. another thing that we need tokeep in mind that it is the law in memphis that you have to have your dog spayed or neutered. spaying and neuteringyour pet keeps them home. being whatever reasonyour dog has gotten out, you need to actimmediately because your dog, especially anun-authored animal,

can travel 10 to 16 miles a day. you would be surprisedhow far a yorkie can get. and then if you don't actimmediately by a posting.. at least if you cannot findme, if you cannot find my page, i stress to you,post on craigslist. i will find you. i will call you. i will e-mail you. and just so people are aware,roughly how many pets have you

been able toreunite with families? well, with my efforts,the education that i give, my watchful eye, i've beendoing lost and found since 2011. it's a pureguesstimate on my part. but it's nearly 6,000 animalshave been reunited with their owners or gotten to safety. well, it's good to know we havesomebody like you here in our area that can take care of that. im glad that i'm here.

yep, thank you so muchfor being here today. thank you for having me. [cute instrumental music] (joe)our breed of themonth is from siam, the country wenow call thailand. the siamese cat is theoldest domestic feline breed, originating sometime betweenthe 14th and 18th centuries. siamese are among the mostrecognizable cats in the world, with their strikingcolor contrast and deep blue

almond-shaped eyes. they come in manydifferent colors and patterns, but recently two distinctlines have been developed. the modern line of the breed is characterized by its long and sleek body. the traditional line hasa rounder body with an apple-shaped head. all siamese are born white anddevelop the coloration in their points as they mature.

one of the most important thingsto know about siamese is they are talkative and opinionated. and when they talk to you, theyexpect you to pay attention and act on their advice. they are generally outgoingand enjoy being with people. often they bondstrongly to one person. siamese are a healthy breed andrequire little to no grooming as they are short-haired. they are very intelligent andaffectionate and make great

companions and family pets forthose who are able to give them the time and care they deserve. because they crave attention,they get lonely fairly easily, so they may not be the idealbreed for someone who is away from home often. they are active and playfuland are often described as more dog-like inbehavior than other cats. siamese cats tend to livebetween 14 and 20 years. we have a serious petoverpopulation problem

in this area. yet at the same time shelterand rescue organizations are consistentlyoperating at capacity. there is a way you can help. sarah talks with katie pembertonof the memphis humane society about how you can open yourhome to foster a needy animal. katie, as always, it's apleasure to have you on our show. and today we're going totouch base on fostering pets.

right. what is the processof fostering a pet? what does it entail? what it entails really variesdepending on the organization your fostering forand the animal itself. at the humane society ofmemphis and shelby county, generally our fostersare fairly short term, maybe a couple of weeks. for example, say it's a littlepuppy and it hasn't had all of

its vaccinations yet. so, it's immune system is notready to come in to our building with all the other animals. so, you're going to keep thepuppy until it has all of its vaccinations and he can comeand get adopted and be spayed or neutered. sometimes it's after because we focus on critically injured animals. sometimes it may be, well,this dog or cat just had,

like, orthopedic surgery and itdoesn't really need to be in a shelter right now. it needs to be in aquiet, calm home. and so, you may foster them for the couple of weeks of their recovery. and then there are othersituations where you may be fostering basically untilthe animal gets adopted. and that's generally when you'reworking with a rescue group that doesn't have a facility.

like, we have a facility sowhen an animal is ready to be adopted, it comes tothe humane society. but with a rescuegroup without a facility, you're going to be probablyfostering it until the animal gets adopted. and so, it reallydepends on that animal, how kind of in demand. you know, if it's a puppy, ihave to say you're probably not going to befostering it very long.

but an older dog just becauseso many people tend to want puppies, you'll probably have anolder dog a little bit longer. i fostered about 30dogs and i'm not even.. i know somebody who has fostered 100. oh my gosh! that's so many! and i've done from a night or two to the longest which was nine months. so, it really, really varies.

so, obviously you're a goodcandidate to foster dogs. you know a lot about them. but who makes a candidate? i mean, somebodywho already has dogs? is that okay? or children? absolutely. really any kind of familyscenario can possibly be a good candidate.

the most important thing is iseveryone in the home okay with fostering and thatincludes your other animals. if you have, say, a dog thatthe presence of other animals is extremely stressful, thenfostering is probably not the best way for you to help. you always want to consideryour current pets needs first. say, if you're marriedand your husband is like, absolutely not,i will walk out the door. then, no, you don't needto bring a foster home.

you can try to talk him in toit and explain why it's helpful. but, you know, you don't want tobreak up your marriage over it. so, that brings me tomy next question then. do you select who, what dog,what cat you want to foster? or does the organization kind of help you find which one is best for you? generally in my experience,i have pretty much chosen. but the way it usually worksout at the humane society is the first step is that you come to one

of our volunteer orientations. and we have two a month. the first monday of the month at 6:00 pm and the third saturdayof the month at 9:00 am. and you indicatedthatyou're interested in fostering. at that point, you will goon our fostering e-mail list. and every time wehave a foster need, you'll get ane-mail that says, oh, here's little spike.

he has a broken leg. he needs somewhere tostay for three months. he is good with other dogs. you'll read that and say,oh, that might work for me. let me e-mail them and sayhey, i can help this dog. and a lot of times, you know, we may already have that need filled. but we're like, oh, well,we'll get you with this dog. because it's constant.

it's every day. it never ends. wow. so, i know personally people have excuses as to why they can't foster. i know i've said before, oh, idon't have time or i might want to keep it, whichis not a problem. but i may end up with 100 dogs. so, what are some excuses thatreally just aren't legitimate?

yeah, i mean, there aredefinitely some excuses that are legitimate. if you really don't havetime, then that is something to consider. but if you travel a lot,actually fostering could be great for you because you mightnot want a pet permanently. but you can choose whenyou're going to have a foster. but the ones.. the excuses that bother peoplein the animal welfare industry

the most are probably one, oh,i just love animals too much. i couldn't do it. and it's cousin, oh, ijust would want to keep it. and i would be sad. and let me tell youwhy that's frustrating. because are you not willing tobe sad for a couple of days when this animal's life wassaved because of you? it's an emotionalsacrifice that you make. it's so worth it.

you literally saved an animal'slife by opening up your home and knowing in amonth from now, okay, i'm going to cry all day. and that's just.. i'm just going to have to take it. i'm going to deal with it. and i've been there. my husband and i,our very first fosters, they were twolittle boy puppies.

and after i tookthem to their home, we both woke upcrying for a week. my husband and me. (sarah)that would be me. yeah. and it is. it's sad. (sarah)but you save their life. you do.

and in most cases, you cankeep up with the adopters. and it's justamazing to be able to see, like on facebook, that dogjust had his picture with santa because i saved his life. that is the reason that he isable to be with his family and be happy now because heneeded a foster and i was there. so, i cannot think of anythingmore rewarding than fostering. it's challenging in some casesand emotionally challenging in almost all.

so, key tips on fostering again. what do people need todo if they're interested? the first thing iwould do is get on, like, petfinder.com and justkind of research the different rescue groups andshelters that are available. if you're interested in fostering for the humane society, go tomemphishumane.org and you can get started on that process there. and most groups including thehumane society will have some

sort of orientation that kindof gives you all the information that you need and kind ofprepares you for what it's going to be like. i officially have no excuse now. i'm going to have to do it. yep, next step. well, thank you as always forbeing on our show, katie. thank you. getting a good photographof your pet can be

a real challenge. they don't often sit still long enough for us to snap the shutter. cris hardaway reports onprofessional pet photographer jack kenner who says the secretto a good pet photo is really quite simple -- think like yourpet thinks and bring along a special bag of tricks. (cris) cece ishaving her picture made. even though cece is avery well-behaved dog,

her attention spanisn't quite long enough. this scene repeats itselfseveral times before jack brings out his bag of tricks. i have about fourpieces of equipment. a whistle, a rattle that startsoff with the greyhounds at the track. you rattle it andthe greyhounds run. a balloon, a ball. so, i'll throw that to thedog and it gets its attention.

but i've never usedtreats unless i have to. (cris) for over 30 yearsjack kenner was your typical professional photographer. but one day in2004 things changed. i woke up. couldn't speak a word. i sounded like darth vader. [in hoarse voice]i talked like this. so, i was always used to beingbehind the camera and talking to

c-e-o's and models. they couldn'thear a word i said. (cris)doctors told jack that hehad disconnected his vocal chord nerve and would be without hisvoice for three months to a year -- if it came back at all. unable to communicateverbally, he couldn't find work, couldn't give direction to thefashion models and c-e-o's that were his subjects. so, he used the time tolearn digital photography,

using his twowesties as his subjects. i took my pictures of my westies on the dishwasher to an art show. and i had them on the wall. [in hoarse voice]and i was stilltalking like this to people. i even had a speakerphone so icould get up over the crowd. [in hoarse voice]hey, i'm over here. we're talking about dogs. and finally somebody goes, well,i want you to photograph my dog.

and it was a greyhound. so, by the end of the day,i was doing dog portraits. (cris) fortunately,three months to the day, jack's voice returned. by then he had a newcareer as a pet photographer. (jack)i thought i was finished. in a way, in a bigway, it was a blessing. (cris) today jack worksexclusively with pets, mostly dogs like cece.

cece was very smart, very alert. there was no realtraining to get done. once i set cece onthe environment, i put her up on the ottoman. shoot her. got her back down. look at the image. do it again. so, basically, she'slearned what i want her to do.

so when the time came to happen,she knew it was going to happen. and then i gave her my speciallittle noises and she responded. it was great. it worked out perfect. (cris) although he beganphotographing pets in his studio, today jack likes to posethe dogs in their owner's home, calling it themodern day doghouse. dogs are actually notonly living in our houses, they're living in our beds.

there's no more dog houses. i can't find adog house anywhere. (cris) jack uses a calm voice and body language to direct the dog. and he listens to whatthe dog is telling him. let your dog showyou the picture. that's what i did. i walk in. i meet the dog.

i always do a scouting. i meet the dog and i wait untilthe dog shows me the picture. the dog will eventually stop playing with me and go sit down somewhere. that's where i wantto take the picture. (cris) jack has published threebooks of pet portraits and, as the title implies, mostof the pictures are of dogs. but what about cats? owners don't think or don't wantor for some reason don't even

want me tophotograph their cats. they wonder,where's all your cats? i go, there right here. i've got a cat book. it's right here. and then they don't do it. it's a strange sense there. i don't get it. (cris)cece's portrait featuresthe memphis skyline in the

background and involves themasterful blending of natural and artificial light that onlya professional photographer can achieve. but jack has some tipsfor your pet photographs. get on that dog's eye level. don't stand up here andshoot down to the dog. come down. get on the same level. your eyes to thecat's or dog's eyes.

the same level. and then try to avoid if youhave flash in your camera. flash just grains photographs. so, turn that flash off andtry to use natural light. and i don't usetreats in the beginning. i always try to use bodylanguage and positive energy. so, the dog will respondto me in a doglike fashion. (cris) with a little bitof digital darkroom magic, cece's portrait has gone from araw camera file to the finished

product, ready tograce her owner's wall. jack has one last bit of advicethat is as much a life lesson as it is a photographic tip. you know, don't fight it. just go with theflow and it happens. that's all for thisedition of "your family pet." we hope you've enjoyed the showand invite you to join us again in march when we'll bring you more stories about the animals we love.

closed captioning providedby w-k-n-o, memphis.

Share this post