Live­jour­nal’s Writer’s Block ques­tion of the day is, “Cats or dogs– which do you pre­fer, and why?”

I don’t pre­fer one over the oth­er. I’ve shared my life with cats and dogs from my ear­li­est years and love both. My par­ents would­n’t con­sid­er allow­ing dogs inside the house and weren’t hap­py about hav­ing cats there, but small­er crit­ters are eas­i­er to sneak in, so I got more time to snug­gle with the cats. Recent­ly, I haven’t had a home with a fenced yard, so I haven’t had a dog. It seems unfair to have a dog with­out giv­ing him a place to run around and play off the leash every day. The cats deal with an all-indoor envi­ron­ment more eas­i­ly. But as soon as I’m able to do so, I’ll have a canine com­pan­ion again!

First, if you dog has a Pim­ple Ball With Bell (what an icky name!), take it back wher­ev­er you bought it and ask them to refund your mon­ey for the dan­ger­ous thing, and take the rest off the shelves.

After read­ing about the injuries at least four dogs have expe­ri­enced due to the absolute refusal of Four Paws Prod­ucts Ltd. to mod­i­fy or recall their prod­uct after being informed of these prob­lems. One dog had to be euth­a­nized.

The com­pa­ny and its insur­er (I wish I knew their name) have been irre­spon­si­ble, at the very least.

Please talk to pet stores in your area about remov­ing the “pim­ple ball with bell” from their shelves. Warn oth­er dog own­ers about the prob­lem. Con­sid­er talk­ing to your vet, so he or she can do the same.

Con­sid­er writ­ing to Four Paws, as well. E‑mail isn’t near­ly as effec­tive as a mailed or faxed let­ter, or even a (polite!) phone call.

I did­n’t find the name of any exec­u­tives on their web site, but will add that after I try call­ing tomor­row. Here’s the mail and phone infor­ma­tion:
50 Wire­less Blvd.
Haup­pauge, NY 11788
Phone: (631) 434‑1100
Fax: (631) 434‑1183

Their par­ent com­pa­ny is Cen­tral Gar­den & Pet Com­pa­ny. The pres­i­dent of the “Pet Group” is James V. Heim
Pres­i­dent of Pet Group
1340 Treat Boule­vard, Suite 600
Wal­nut Creek, Cal­li­for­nia 94597
Phone: (925) 948‑4000

I haven’t found a fax num­ber. Yet.

Edit: Embed­ding is now dis­abled for the video. Foo. But you can watch it on You Tube!

That’s one of the sweet­est things I’ve ever seen.

Some­one on my LJ read­ing list post­ed a link to this very amus­ing bit about Scenic Hors­es, which sound to me like the very best sort of hors­es.

As a result, some­one else linked to I Has a Sweet Pota­to, which made me laugh so hard my dim­ples are sore. , I have a feel­ing that your and Seth’s dogs have cousins out there some­where.

I’ve long known that there were peo­ple who inflict indig­ni­ties like sweaters and even tiny lit­tle boots on their canine com­pan­ions. I had no idea that the dog­gy fash­ion had become so very fash­ion­able, though.

Then I saw it. One moment I’m sur­round­ed by bird feed­ers and cat toys, the next, there it is: an entire row of Canine Cou­ture.

I called Katie to my side to make sure I was­n’t hal­lu­ci­nat­ing, but no, she saw it too. We brought home pho­to­graph­ic evi­dence, not expect­ing you to believe us with­out it.

That par­tic­u­lar “dress” was the most eye-catch­ing of this sea­son’s dog fash­ion — at least, what that Tar­get is car­ry­ing.

We were very hap­py to come home to our sharp-clawed cats, safe in the knowl­edge that they would nev­er per­mit such a thing.