Dog Food

In a final act of corporate kindness, Pets.com tossed a lifeline to Alaska dog mushers faced with the harsh choice of killing their dogs or watching them starve. The San Francisco-based online retailer, which pulled the plug Nov. 7 after failing to find a financial backer, donated more than 21 tons of dog food to help mushers in Alaska's interior. The collapse of salmon runs this year left mushers with too little food for their dogs this winter.

There was a time when a cup of kibble and a can of dog food were all that people thought a dog needed for a complete diet. Although that's often still the case, a growing contingent of pet lovers feels that Fido needs to get in on the trend of super-foods. That desire has helped fuel the bottom line of Designing Health, a Valencia-based company started in 1992 by a veterinarian.

Stock Exchange lets readers listen in as Times staff writers James Peltz and Michael Hiltzik debate the merits of individual stocks. Procter & Gamble (PG) Jim: Up first today is, well, a corporate institution, right, Mike? Sometimes you wonder how we would all live without Procter & Gamble, given all the consumer goods it makes. Which, by the way, generate $38 billion in annual sales. Mike: Yeah, sometimes I think I have an all-Procter & Gamble medicine chest in my house.

Most of what I write about, I write about with ferocious curiosity and sometimes even zeal, but almost always with a measure of detachment. Not so this. I'd already begun writing about http://www.metropettracker.com, a free Web site trying to establish itself as the spot to find lost pets and display found ones across the daunting reaches of L.A. Then someone stole Edgar. Broke into my yard to get him, drove him 15 miles and two cities away, stripped him of collar and tags and dumped him.

Frisbee-catching dogs and canine maze runners were the top draws Saturday at the second annual Off-Leash Dog Faire. Enthusiastic owners watched as trained dogs caught flying discs or tore through an obstacle course--jumping over a raised bar, through a tire, then blazing through tunnels. The handlers, shouting encouragement, accompanied the dogs through the maze.

A couple of days ago, a woman I know asked, "What do you think about Propecia?" I didn't answer right away, because it is better to stay silent and appear to be stupid than to speak up and prove it. "Propecia?" I replied. I waited for a clue. I had no idea if Propecia was: (a) A gulf near Iraq that's responsible for us paying $1.

There is something disturbing about the concept of a doggy antidepressant, such as the drug approved by the FDA last week. The main feature of the medication, called Clomicalm, is that it purportedly relieves the animal's separation anxiety. This usually comes on when its human companion (you or I) has the audacity to live his life and leave the home to go to work, the store, a movie or, God forbid, on vacation. My problem with such a pill has to do with guilt.

It's come to this: Dogs can now have birthday cakes and biscotti concocted just for them at a specialty bakery. But it doesn't end there. The delicacies also meet specifications that would delight a dietitian: no sugar, no salt and, please, carob instead of chocolate. Three Dog Bakery, a canine-centered patisserie set to open this month in Corona del Mar, and later in Pasadena, West Hollywood and Santa Barbara, is just the latest purveyor in an expanding luxury pet-care market.

As dogs go, Rottweilers are tough. But Choloe, a 6-year-old from West Los Angeles, was no match for the rugged terrain of Santa Paula Canyon. His paws burned by hot rocks, Choloe was stranded overnight with his owner in a remote area off California 150, a couple of miles northeast of Thomas Aquinas College, until his rescue Monday by firefighters. Carried part of the way back by rescuers on a stretcher, the 110-pound dog recovered enough to finish the hike about 12:30 p.m.