August 2009 Archives

August 27 marks Cesar's 40th birthday -- that's 280 in dog years!

Happy Birthday, Cesar!

Leave your own birthday well wishes on the blog!

NAME: Memphis
BREED: Weimaraner
AGE: 2 years

ABOUT THE DOG:
Memphis ended up at a rescue needing surgery to remove a block in his intestines after eating rocks...again. That ordeal hasn't stopped his insatiable appetite. He continues to eat everything in sight, even a chocolate birthday cake!

ABOUT THE OWNER:
Karen Cowell is a middle school teacher who lives in Castaic, CA with her husband Greg, two children and another Weimaraner named Smokey.

BEHIND THE SCENES:
Memphis is the first Weimaraner to appear on Dog Whisperer!

NAME: Annabelle
BREED: Australian shepherd
AGE: 2 years old

ABOUT THE DOGS:
Heather and Chris Rupp got Annabelle from a breeder when she was 10 weeks old. Annabelle is couple's first dog, and they enrolled her in puppy classes right away. From the beginning, Annabelle showed excitability around other dogs. Heather and Chris tried to socialize Annabelle, but her whining and shrieking drives potential new friends away.

ABOUT THE OWNERS:
Heather works in business investment research at a credit investment managing service. Chris works as a housing admissions administrator at a nearby college and teaches art sculpture. Both Heather and Chris had dogs growing up, and Chris even had an Australian shepherd!

BEHIND THE SCENES:
While Annabelle's segment was being edited, her squeals often echoed through the Dog Whisperer production office. The production staff's dogs started chiming in, and soon the office was full of barking dogs.

NAME: Harley
BREED: Yellow lab mix
AGE: 18 months old

ABOUT THE DOG:
Debbie got Harley in early October 2008 from an animal sanctuary in Aguanga, CA. where she was delivering a horse. Harley had been found in the parking lot of a store after running away from his original owners. When the animal sanctuary employees called the phone number on his tag, the owners never returned their call.

ABOUT THE OWNER:
For the past 10 years, Debbie Ruggiero has worked as a horse trainer and transports horses when they need to be taken to a vet. Debbie also has a 9-year-old German shepherd/Dobie mix named Jasmine.

BEHIND THE SCENES:
Debbie's parents have a large orange tree in their backyard, and as the crew was leaving, the couple loaded gathered up huge bags of oranges for them. For the next few days, the production office had healthy morning snacks!

NAME: Roscoe
BREED: Akita
AGE: 2 ½ years

ABOUT THE DOG:
Jorge Huerta found Akita, Roscoe in a newspaper ad and made an appointment to see him. The owner told Jorge that he had taken Roscoe away from his first owner because he suspected that the dog was being abused. From the beginning, Roscoe refused to go outside the family's property. Two years later, Roscoe remains fearful of unfamiliar environments. Because of this, he has never gone for a walk.

ABOUT THE OWNER:
Jorge Huerta lives with his parents, two brothers, sister, and twelve year-old nephew. The family lived in apartments for most of Jorge's life, so they could never own a dog. Once they bought a house, Jorge rushed out to adopt one, even though he did not grow up with dogs,.

BEHIND THE SCENES:
Dog Whisperer participants are required to get permission from their veterinarians in order to participate in the show. But the Dog Whisperer staff had to make an exception for Roscoe because the Huerta family couldn't get Roscoe out of the yard and into the car for his vet visit.