Breed

I find it puzzling that the House of Delegates and the Senate have failed to come up with a compromise on the pit bull legislation currently stalled in Annapolis ("Pit bull compromise in danger as houses differ," March 13). A simple, breed-neutral approach is necessary to prevent continued discrimination against a single breed based on the irresponsibility of their owners. If the General Assembly fails to pass this legislation, each member should be required to volunteer 90 days per year at a local animal shelter so that they can see and experience the results of their inability to enact such common sense legislation.

I disagree with the University of Maryland's Animal Science Department's decision to expand its horse-breeding program. There is a glut of unwanted horses and ponies across the country. Horse Rescue Farms are over-crowded and are turning away the no longer wanted animals for lack of space, feed, medication and shelter. Due to the economy and cost of keeping horses, owners are desperately trying to find homes for their no longer wanted horses, ponies, mules, and donkeys. Many are beloved pets or used for pleasure or racing or work or have outlived their purpose.

Regal beagles Ron Fritz Baltimore Sun I think they should have some new rules at Westminster. Any dog who has its hair styled is out. It's not a real dog. Any dog who is shaved where no man or animal should be shaved is out. It's not a real dog. I imagine one of the Labs or bulldogs turning to the miniature poodle and saying, "Dude, you know they shaved your butt, right? How much do you get paid for allowing that?" But the best breed is the beagle.

College junior Steve Moirano has no children of his own, but he played the proud parent Saturday as a pair of foals debuted to a crowd of onlookers at the University of Maryland campus farm. "What was it like?" Brandon Hurn, a sophomore chemical engineering student, asked Moirano, referring to a mare known as Amazin'. "Were you there?" "I actually pulled the foals out," answered Moirano, an animal sciences major planning to go into veterinary medicine. He and a few classmates were on hand to show off the foals - the first born on the farm in 30 years - and answer questions at Maryland Day, the university's annual campuswide showcase.

As one of letter writer Mark T. Pfaff's animal "kooks," I just wish to bring one simple fact to his attention ("The court didn't go far enough on pit bulls," June 22): Mr. Pfaff mentions not understanding "why anyone would own a dog with a vicious nature. " For his information, dogs are not born with vicious natures; circumstances and people are to blame for making them vicious. Furthermore, there is no such thing as a "pit bull" breed, although several breeds are lumped into this category.

If reader Tom Paxton were actually a lifelong animal lover, he would understand that all dogs are "potentially dangerous" ("Pit bull compromise deserved to fail," April 15). All dogs have teeth. All dogs, given their breeding and life experience, can be problematic - or wonderful. I've been a professional dog trainer for decades. Mr. Paxton says the owner of a dog that bit him treated her pit bull "like a poodle. " I've been threatened (more often than bitten, thanks to dog-smarts and good reflexes)

On November 4, 2004, MARGERYESTELLE BREED (nee Wheeler); loving wife of the late Walter L. Breed and daughter of the late Emma and the late Charles Wheeler; beloved mother of Joseph F. Moore, Jr., Margery Estelle Moore D'Valle and her husband Don, Steven Edward Gaines and his wife Chris, Donna Mae Gaines Turner and her husband Chuck, and Michelle Louise Gaines Hoffert and her husband Jim. Also survived by eleven grandchildren, three great-grandsons, many...

CHICAGO - Someday, you might want to get a dog, and you'll probably want to do some research first. Head to the library and check out the "breed books." Then compare the various canines by size, temperament and "personality." But before you do it, there's one thing that you really need to know: Dog books are filled with lies. Not some of them. All of them. On every page, cover to cover. You see, these books are all written by dog devotees, who see no faults in their favorite breeds. So relying on a dog book would be like basing college admissions on the sincere evaluations of the kids' own parents.

Stephani Norris has a sign in front of her Zoar, Ohio, residence. It reads: "This home protected by Afghan security." Norris is not a Taliban sympathizer. She's a breeder of Afghan hounds, known for their aristocratic bearing and long flowing coat. But the recent political climate has Norris considering whether to take down her whimsical sign, which includes the breed's distinctive outline. She's also more circumspect when asked where her dogs come from. "I just say, `Ohio.' " What's in a name?

In another week or so, we'll all be plunged into the madness and stress of the holiday season. For today, though, pour yourself another cup of coffee and test your knowledge of pet trivia.The test0 Match these U.S. presidents with their dogs:1. Lyndon Johnson a. Rob Roy2. Franklin Roosevelt b. Him3. Gerald Ford c. Fala4. Calvin Coolidge d. Liberty5. Name the breeds of those presidential canines.6. During George Bush's presidency, a book "written" by the family's springer spaniel, Millie, was a best seller.

If reader Tom Paxton were actually a lifelong animal lover, he would understand that all dogs are "potentially dangerous" ("Pit bull compromise deserved to fail," April 15). All dogs have teeth. All dogs, given their breeding and life experience, can be problematic - or wonderful. I've been a professional dog trainer for decades. Mr. Paxton says the owner of a dog that bit him treated her pit bull "like a poodle. " I've been threatened (more often than bitten, thanks to dog-smarts and good reflexes)

I find it puzzling that the House of Delegates and the Senate have failed to come up with a compromise on the pit bull legislation currently stalled in Annapolis ("Pit bull compromise in danger as houses differ," March 13). A simple, breed-neutral approach is necessary to prevent continued discrimination against a single breed based on the irresponsibility of their owners. If the General Assembly fails to pass this legislation, each member should be required to volunteer 90 days per year at a local animal shelter so that they can see and experience the results of their inability to enact such common sense legislation.

Dale Capuano winced at the sight of the 10 or so people watching the horse race at Laurel Park as he walked from the paddock into the 3,000-seat grandstand. Most were familiar faces. Out on the track, his filly, Calcutta Cat, reeled from a rough break — the horse next to her veered left sharply coming out of the gate — and finished sixth of eight horses. She was the only Maryland-bred horse in the race. Only 19 of the 80 horses entered in races that day had been foaled in Maryland.

Phil Booth gets the basketball at the top of the key and, in a flash, practice at Mount St. Joseph comes to a halt. The reason? Kameron Williams is poised in front of him, inches away. The floor is spread, and the Gaels' two star guards are set to go one-on-one. Gripping the ball with both hands, Booth swings it slowly, left to right, right to left, a human pendulum set to burst. A second later, he drives to the right with an explosive first step that shakes Williams, giving Booth a clear path to the basket for an easy layup.

Between her over-the-top run-ins with Cynthia Bailey and mission to scurry down the aisle with boyfriend Walter, new housewife Kenya Moore is quickly stealing this season of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta. " This week's episode was a celebration of successful women, as Cynthia plans a party in honor of all of NeNe Leakes' accomplishments such as her new sitcom "The New Normal. " Before the party, NeNe flies out to Los Angeles to do promo for her sitcom in the Pride parade. "I have arrived, I have achieved," shouted NeNe, basking in the glory of people showing her love and screaming her name at the parade.

It's hard work catching soft crabs, a fickle livelihood in an increasingly precarious part of the world. Starting before sunup, Smith Island waterman Mark Kitching spends hours repeatedly "scraping" the submerged grass beds that grow abundantly around his home in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. On a recent morning, he's commuted 45 minutes through the pre-dawn darkness to work north of Holland Straits some 13 miles away. The Cummins diesel engine in his work boat, Miss Anita, provides the power to drag a pair of nets through thick grass beds where Kitching hopes to find soft crabs and "peelers," those young crabs about to shed their shells and form larger new ones.

MARYLAND DOGS made a good showing in breed competitions Sunday when more than 8,000 spectators watched an entry of 3,260 dogs and their handlers compete in the Baltimore County Kennel Club's 55th all-breed dog show and obedience trials held in the Cow Palace at the State Fairgrounds in Timonium.Better than one-quarter of the entries were Maryland dogs, and the remainder were from all over the World.Best in Show was a saucy wire fox terrier, Champion Registry's Lonesome Dove, owned by Marion W. and Samuel B. Lawrence of Orlando, Fla. He was chosen from the seven group winners by Best in Show Judge Michele L. Billings from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.In group competitions, several Maryland dogs took wins.

Jazz is home!Our other three Weimaraners are running around the living room, barking, wagging tails furiously as they watch from the living-room picture window while Jazz excitedly drags me up the driveway to the house.It is always like this when Jazz returns from the dog-show circuit for a few, all-too-brief days. He struts into the house. I follow, carrying the trophies and the purple and gold ribbons that are the symbols of his most recent victories.The other dogs sniff him, absorbing the smells of his adventures and travels.

After animal advocates protested a ruling by the state's highest court deeming all pit bulls inherently dangerous, state lawmakers now will consider a bill to overturn the decision during the special session this week. On Monday, Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Chairman Brian Frosh said a circulated draft bill would make owners of any breed legally responsible for bites. In its April ruling, the Maryland Court of Appeals distinguished pit bull and pit bull mixes from other breeds, giving greater liability to dog owners and landlords who permit tenants to have them, in response to a 2007 attack on a Towson boy. The decision outraged pet owners and animal-rights groups, who say the court's decision unfairly targets dogs based on breed when such laws should be based on the dog's behavior.

As one of letter writer Mark T. Pfaff's animal "kooks," I just wish to bring one simple fact to his attention ("The court didn't go far enough on pit bulls," June 22): Mr. Pfaff mentions not understanding "why anyone would own a dog with a vicious nature. " For his information, dogs are not born with vicious natures; circumstances and people are to blame for making them vicious. Furthermore, there is no such thing as a "pit bull" breed, although several breeds are lumped into this category.