Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/77322
6A Daily News – Saturday, August 4, 2012 healthPetsactivities & Tips for traveling with pets Summer is vacation time, and while most pets are board- ed when their keepers are on holiday, pets travel very well if you do not leave anything to chance and if they have been raised in an environment where random events are part of their lives. I travel all over with my pets. Domesticated pets have traveled with humans on ships like The Mayflower, covered wagons and all sorts of primitive transportation. As with all other activities with your pet, being proactive is better than being reactive when taking them on holiday. Here are some pointers to keep such traveling smooth: Bring along a letter from your vet that says the animal is current on all vaccinations. Cloned dog a new dad ERDALE, Fla. (MCT) — The saga of Sir Lancelot lives on. FORT LAUD- Be sure that the pets' ID tags are clean and readable. Check out the collar and lead. While you are walking your dog at a rest stop on a busy turnpike, you don't want to risk a frayed lead or a sticky collar buckle. Many hotels and motels are pet friendly these days, but do call ahead to check it out first. Nobody wants to arrive at a hotel at the end of a long day of driving to see a "no pets allowed" sign. Q: I have a little garden pond next to my patio with a few small water lilies and delicate aquatic plants. I do not want to put goldfish or koi in the pond as I do not want them to eat the plants. I put some rosy red minnows in the pond in the spring but they died as soon as the water got hot in June. I see mosquito larvae in the water and wanted to put some mosquito fish in the pond now to eat them but I cannot seem to find a store that sells them. My son has a 10-gallon tank inside with some guppies and other fish in it. Can we put those fish in the pond for the summer to eat the mosquito larvae and then take them out and put them back in the tank? A: I do that every year with my tropical freshwater fish, That's the golden Labrador retriever that Edgar and Nina Otto cloned after their beloved dog died four years ago from cancer. Now the West Boca, Fla., couple have bred the clone, Lancelot Encore, who recently fathered eight pups. "We are so tickled pink and they just love it. By the end of the summer, they are three times the size from all the natural food, their colors are bright and intense from the natural sunlight and they have had lots of healthy babies. However, such a summer vaca- tion for fish can work only if your pond is small enough to catch all the fish again in the fall. You really need to drain the pond to get them all. When you put the fish back in your tank, you should add a medication to kill any parasites they may have picked up from being outdoors. Pet shops sell such preparations. Q: To try to keep costs down, we have been shutting off our central air conditioner while we are not home. In the heat wave, I have noticed that when we get home our African grey parrot looks noticeably uncomfortable. He stands up straight, his feathers are all flat against his body, and he is panting. After we turn on the AC, he is fine. How hot is too hot for a parrot? I would imagine that coming from the jungle they would be able to tolerate very warm temperatures. A: Grey parrots seem less tolerant of heat than most other tropical birds. They do come from warm climates, but remember that a bird in its natural habitat can pick and choose the coolest spot in its environment. A bird caged in a house has no choice except to suffer through it. Keep the AC on, but set it to turn on when the room hits 85 degrees. This seems to be the temp at which most birds start to feel uncomfortable. that they were born on the Fourth of July and that she had the litter naturally," Nina Otto said of Scarlett, the West Palm Beach, Fla., female Lab that was surgically inseminated with Encore's sperm. The Ottos created a website — labraclone.com, "future pups from the past" — to educate others about their cloning journey and to sell seven of the half-cloned doggies, some of which are cream-hued like their father while the others are fox-red, like their mother. "I am keeping one and we are hoping to find good homes for all the other puppies," said Otto, who would not disclose the dogs' selling prices. Traditionally, the MCT photo Two of eight puppies fathered by Nina and Edgar Otto's cloned dog, Sir Lancelot Encore, is seen at the West Palm Beach home of the breeder. owner of the female dog, known as the bitch, pays a stud fee to breed her. "We did it a little differ- ently," said Otto, who paid "a few thousand dollars" to have Lancelot bred with Scarlett, a registered pure- bred female Lab owned by Leigh Green, a Lab breed- er in West Palm Beach. "We needed a female and there were a lot of people that might not have wanted to use a dog that might not have had a pedi- WATERLOO, Ill. (MCT) — On the back of Jim Poole's business card it reads, in part: "A career of corporate icon manage- ment." gree at the time," she said, noting that Lancelot Encore isn't registered by the American Kennel Club because of his cloned background. But she said she found another kennel club that has agreed to register Encore and his offspring as Labs. The names of the five females and three males reflect their patriotic birth- day: Glory, Liberty, Star, Allegiance, America, Patriot, Independence and Victory. The pups are staying put with their mom until they are big enough to adopt. "She is a fantastic mother," said Green of Scarlett. "She loves the babies. She wants to take care of them. She will nurse them until the day they go home." The Ottos have become a media sensation this year. In May, they appeared on a TLC docu- mentary, "I Cloned My Pet," in which they dis- cussed the benefits of pet cloning. Last month they were also featured in the HBO documentary film "One Nation Under Dog: Stories of Fear, Loss and Betrayal" Because of their strong bond with Sir Lancelot, whom they described as "a very human dog," they had his DNA cryogenically frozen years before his death. Six months after, they learned of a five-day cloning auction by a Cal- ifornia biotech company. The Ottos joined the auc- tion and won with their $155,000 bid. made the couple the first family in Florida and one of the first 15 in the Unit- ed States with a cloned dog. The Ottos say the cloned dog is truly a dou- ble of his predecessor, exhibiting the same movements and behav- iors such as crossing its paw when it sits down. The dog was also imme- diately accepted by the couple's other seven dogs, which include two other Labs, three Cavail- er King Charles Spaniels, a Bichon Frise and a Teacup Yorkie. Lancelot Encore was born from a surrogate dog in South Korea, where a research firm conducted the cloning procedure. That dog, whom they affectionately nicknamed "Lancey," The Ottos plan to keep only one pup because "I don't want to flood my house with dogs," said Otto. "We really wanted our dog back and now we have his babies. Another generation of Lanceys. If any of them crosses their paws, I will be thrilled out of my mind." Retired Anheuser-Busch Clydesdale manager stays in the saddle say that's because he is busy sizing up the horses — and the humans — around him. "He can look at a horse make clear his professional experience until you find out that Poole worked for more than two decades at Anheuser-Busch. It would be hard to think of another company with a more icon- ic image than the majestic hitch of Clydesdales pulling a beer wagon. The symbol has been associated with the brewery since the end of Prohibition nearly 80 years ago. That alone might not Poole helped keep that image in the hearts and minds of the public, work- ing with the horses to make sure they were perfect for the appearances they made around the country, includ- ing Super Bowl ads, open- ing day at Busch Stadium and the Rose Parade. In December 2010, in the field and know what it's going to look like when ready to show. He can take one look at you and tell you what you've done the night before," said David Carson, a Clydesdale breeder in Ontario who has known Poole for 40 years. Going from farm boy to MCT photo Jim Poole goes into a stall at his barn in Water- loo, Ill. to get Marcel, left, his biggest Clydesdale. Poole retired as general manager of Clydesdale operations but not from his work with the draft horses. He now has a Clydesdale consulting business, help- ing buyers find the right horse. ily raised Belgians, another type of draft horse. It's a natural move for a man who grew up on a farm in Manitoba where his fam- Poole's son, Barclay, said it is hard to imagine his dad doing anything else. "When he is around a horse, you see a guy within the realm he was meant to be in," Barclay Poole said. "I always got a kick out of when he said one of his favorite things to do was go out to the barn late at night and listen to the horses chew hay." Membership Specials Student 3 Month $89 Couple $199 Family of 3 $249 Family of 4 $269 Family of 5 $299 Specials for new members only 3 months specials must be paid in full Children must be under 18 to be included to family memberships Tehama Family Fitness Center www.tehamafamilyfitness.com 2498 South Main St Red Bluff 528-8656 Poole is a quiet man. Those who know him well Expert Repair Work of All Types Fire Season Still In Effect Firefighter Nicks For Hunting with Get Ready Danner & Rocky ba, where it is winter six months a year, Poole looked forward each year to watching the telecast of the Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif. typically held on New Year's Day. The high- light was the Budweiser Clydesdales. company executive, Poole was able to fit in with most any crowd, Carson said. "He can sit down on a chair in a horse stall and drink a beer or stand up with the president and know the way to act and dress to fit in," he said. Poole leases land on a picturesque farm outside Waterloo, Ill., a spot where he cares for Clydesdales that he will soon be selling. It's here where he opens up — a bit — about his life, enough to understand why Clydesdales continue to be part of his world. But he is reluctant to talk about his job with the brewery or reveal basic personal infor- mation such as his age. Growing up in Manito- involved with them some- how," he remembers think- ing as a boy. His family raised Bel- gians and showed them around the country at draft horse events. Poole got to know those who worked with the Budweiser Clydes- dales. "Maybe someday I'll get the drivers and the han- dlers," he said, admitting that he overstayed his wel- come now and then. But his persistence in asking questions about the horses paid off when he got a call in 1988 from Anheuser-Busch: Come to St. Louis and work as a supervisor for one of the hitches. "I used to hang around working in the corporate world, "he's out helping new people get involved in our breed," Behn said. His knowledge of the industry is invaluable, she said. 478 Antelope Blvd. • Red Bluff • 529-5466 Retired now for about 1 1/2 years, Poole's JFP Equine Consulting is keep- ing him busy. Prospective buyers come to Waterloo to look at horses. Poole also delivers horses to their new owners all over North America, including recent trips to Nashville, Tenn., San Antonio and Toronto. He got to know several Clydesdale breeders throughout the country, including Cathy Behn. She's executive secretary of the Clydesdale Breeders of the USA. With Poole no longer Affton, Mo., also keeps horses on farms in Canada and Louisiana, including about a dozen family Clydesdales that are not for sale. Poole, who lives in As he opens a gate to one of the pastures in Waterloo, Poole's eyes light up. monster," he says of Mar- cel, a 4-year-old standing about 20 hands tall (6 1/2 feet) when measured at the shoulder. "As you can see, he's a "He has an intelligent head," Poole said, explain- ing further. "He's got sharp eyes and ears moving all the time. He's a great spec- imen." Horses of Marcel's cal- iber are not cheap. They can fetch from $25,000 to $40,000. "If you want to play in the big leagues, it's going to cost you a lot of money," Carson said. But the aver- age price for a Clydesdale is much more reasonable, selling for $3,000 to $4,000, he said. Poole retired two years after Anheuser-Busch was purchased by InBev. He declined to talk about the transition but repeatedly praised the com- pany. "I cannot stress enough what a great company, great opportunity they gave me to be a part of for so long," Poole said. Anheuser-Busch also had praise for Poole. "It's a tough job that takes a lot of commitment, which Jim always made look easy because of his love of draft horses and passion for our herd," said Poole's replace- ment and former employ- ee, Jeff Knapper, in a state- ment released by the com- pany.