Sunday, September 30, 2007

Tonight was the 4th Annual Paws for a Cause!

Tonight was the 4th Annual Paws for a Cause Dinner and Auction for the NS SPCA and this year was the 2nd year it was held at the Halifax Marriott Hotel down at the Waterfront.
If you want to read about last year's - I wrote about it - here - on my blog post from last September.
I'd say that this year was at least as big a success as last year was, and the dogs were just as cute as ever - and so were the clothes they modelled. The auction items were great, and I got myself a couple good things - including a handmade wooden pet urn that I don't know who I'll use for - maybe myself - you never know.
These are some of the dogs I took pictures of - I took pictures of all the dogs in the fashion show if you're interested in looking at the VERY cute photos - they're on my Google photo album at - http://picasaweb.google.com/dogkisser/SPCAPawsForACause2007
This was one of the biggest laughs of the evening - this poor guy was wearing the same sweater as one of the dog fashion participants - the pitty mix above came out wearing a brown argyle sweater - and this guy was wearing ---- a brown argyle sweater, and Neville McKay noticed him and pointed him out - and the room broke out laughing! Poor guy, eh? He'd better go to Naughty Dog and Glamour Puss and buy one of these sweaters for his dog though so that when they go out - they'll match!

Here's a slideshow of tonight's event if you don't feel like going to the Google photo album:





Before the auction today me and the dogs had a good time in the woods - Buttercup was on fire running around everywhere - it was hard to get a photo of her she was running around so much.
I DID manage to get some super photos of them with all 3 of them in the same shot. There's certain parts of the walk where we always stop and have a treat - and I was giving them a treat and I noticed - oh my dog, they're standing all squished up - where's my camera! And I got this shot. Serendipity is great.
These 2 photos are adding to my ever growing collection of photos of Buttercup running towards me - I think I must be up to over 60 of them now.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

What I think about Vivid Elements and Blogware


Stop reading now Dad, because I am going to say at the end of this post how much money I pissed away on my fruitless attempts at hosting this blog at my own domain name. The only reason why I'm writing this post is so that it will be spidered and when anyone is thinking about buying services from Vivid Elements and they do a search and come up with my blog post - or the mirror page over on my Dogkisser site and they read it - maybe they'll have second thoughts and maybe Vivid Elements will lost some money because they made such a boondoggle of what I wanted.

What I wanted was to host my blog at my own domain name - you see that all the time - you click on a link and people have their blogs at whatever they've chosen as their own domain name (and they've paid money to buy that domain name). And in this wonderful 21st century - the computer wizards have set things up so that you no longer have to type in the "www" in front of websites anymore. Hence, in order to get to the website you're reading right now - all you have to type in is http://dogkisser.blogspot.com/ - and all you have to type in to get to the website that I'm hosting my liver stuff is http://dogkisser.ca/ - now THAT website is where I wanted to host my blog.

And that is where I wanted Vivid Elements to put my blog. And do you think they could do it? NO...... they said there was something about a CName thing-a-ma-jiggy and a mirror host that I had to go into my domain registry and change - and it turns out Domains at Cost didn't have that feature - so the best we could was to host the blog and always have to put in http:// - WWW - dogkisser.ca

Well I was very unhappy about that - because there would be a ton of people who would NOT be typing in the WWW and they'd get - "Website doesn't exist" - and that to me is unacceptable. So Vivid Elements said that if I switched my domain hosting over to them - then they could set the domain hosting up properly and everything would work out fine. So I paid them an additional $18 and went through a huge bunch of hassle to move my domain name dogisser.ca over to them.

And what do you think happened? You're right!! Nothing!!!!!!! They still couldn't get the fan-damned website to work without punching in the www first. So now I was really pissed.

While this level of annoyance was going on - I was also being annoyed by the Blogware software. Everything I tried wasn't working - and I'd email the administrator so that it could be turned on - because unlike most people - I read the manuals that are provided with whatever I buy - so I knew that I could do certain things, and when I tried them - it wouldn't work. So that was annoying having to email the administrator every day about software glitches IN ADDITION to to this over-riding problem of the domain name debacle.

And the software itself isn't very good - as you can tell - my blog is photo heavy - and you've got to go to one section of the program to upload the photos - 1 at a time, and then go to another part of the program to write your post - and then go back to the other section of the program to retrieve those photos so that you can insert them in your post! What a lot of work to write one post! Now that is bullshit!!

Oh, just writing this post is giving me a headache, my head is pounding just thinking about how horrible the whole experience was.

So I ask for my money back because I decided to just point my domain name back to the original web site that I had at http://dogkisser.ca/ and go back to Blogger - and do you think they'd give it to me? No. The administrator that I'm dealing with says that she "thinks everything can be solved with a phone call".

How can their incompetence be solved with a phone call? How can a completely non-functioning blog that I paid for be solved by talking person to person? I don't understand how. So this blog post is my answer to the situation. I've decided to soak the $164 for the blog and the $18 for the domain name transfer and take some heart in the fact that maybe Vivid Elements will lose more money than that through the publishing of this blog post.

Thanks to the beauty of the internet. I love the internet, don't you? Tell all your friends.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Daisy Update

Daisy is pretty much back to normal after her surgery on Friday - except for the bald patches on her back and her stubby tail - and the stiches inside her eyelid. Her energy level is back to normal - that's for sure. It was certainly funny to see her groggy on Friday night though. A drunk rottweiller is a funny thing to behold.

I made a short little slideshow of a wrestling match today between Charlie and Daisy that was particularly cute - they were in full blown form today.



Tonight I went to visit my friend Shannon who's moving to BC at the end of the month with her dog Radio - isn't Radio beautiful? Nova Scotia is certainly going to miss a dog like this. We can only hope it's bye for now!


New Video featuring Charlie's Squirrel

The last video I made featured Charlie barking at the squirrel - but this video is actually a close-up of Charlie's squirrel in her feeder. It is so cute - and it's very obviously a female squirrel who has either just let go of her babies or still has her babies hidden somewhere. She is a very cute little animal. And still very photogenic! Enjoy!



Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Neat things I've been emailed


I've been emailed a couple neat things in the past couple of days - one is this photo - I don't think I've ever seen such an obvious picture of what Jesus Christ has been purported to look like in a photo of something! Can you see it? I bet you can! Thank you to Marc for putting it on Facebook for all the world to find it!

And today I was sent a link by Don to this video - http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/play/audiogallery/soundseen.shtml - it's called "Animals at play" and it shows a slideshow of a polar bear and a husky playing! Can you believe it? The fellow who is talking - Stuart Brown - is the head of the National Institute for Play and he believes that there's a science to play and that it crosses between species.

I think it shows even more that all life is equal and special and deserves the same reverence.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Daisy Goes to the Vet!

Today Daisy went to the vet - she has had a growth growing inside her right eye lid - and I'd imagine it's starting to get uncomfortable - so we went tonight to see about getting it taken off.
Since she's having that one taken off I'm also going have about 5 other cauliflower like growths taken off from other parts of her body too - I can't see that they'll stop growing - so I might as well have them taken off while they're small rather than letting them grow big and ugly, and they seem to be sensitive when I touch them - so we're going to have the lot of them taken off. Dr. Carnegy had a cancellation this coming Friday - so we're going to have it done then - nice and soon! So after Friday Daisy will be perfect again! Daisy was of course perfect at the vets - doesn't she look cute in these photos? It's the power of the liver! haha!
Once we got home Daisy pulled out one of her bones right away and dug right back in.
Buttercup was very unimpressed that we went out without her - my Dad said that the whole time we were gone she did nothing but whine - and then after we came home she let me know in no uncertain terms that she didn't like being left behind.
Charlie too didn't like being left behind I think. But sometimes we don't have any choice, do we? It's the curse of the multiple dog home. Sometimes we have to go our separate ways.I think that Buttercup "may" be starting to forgive me now that we've been home awhile. Maybe if I dole out obsessive amounts of liver all will be forgiven....

Saturday, September 15, 2007

I've completely redesigned "Charlie loves Halifax"


I have completely redesigned the "Charlie loves Halifax" website - completely new architecture - completely new everything. I am 80% done, and I'd like some feedback. What does everyone think? Any comments? The site is at http://charlieloveshalifax.ca/

Some new pictures of Charlie's squirrel

Please indulge my fascination with Charlie's squirrel - she is so cute - and so photogenic, and seems to actually enjoy having her picture taken!



This is Charlie underneath the tree saying - "how come you can catch the squirrel and I can't!!!"

Thursday, September 13, 2007

A Really Interesting Statistic


I was reading a news feed today from Purina Canada - of all things - Pet Care Company Launches New Fund and Centre - and they did some market research that has says:

"According to Purina research, over 51% of Canadian households have a dog
or cat. In comparison, Statistics Canada has reported that 31% of Canadian
households have children.


So more Canadian homes currently have pets than children - so what does that say about us - that we like animals as companions more than children? That more of us have chosen to have canine life companions than children? Or that more of us are too old to have children? Or too young?

Regardless - I think it shows that society needs to wake up and see that the living beings living inside our homes need to become PART of our society - and need to spend time outside of our homes - WITH us - and I hope people start accepting that soon - and I hope some of those people are DOG OWNERS.

PETA is completely wrong about Breeders


PETA's latest campaign is hopefully going to put them over the edge in public opinions mind of a lot of normal people who have up until now not really thought about them too much and thought that they were an okay organization because people like Pamela Anderson and Paul McCartney supported them.

Their latest campaign is blaming all breeders of all dogs for the reason why dogs and cats are dying in shelters.

I cannot believe that they'd actually say something so absolutely wrong - and say it so publicly - up until now they've been very subversive with their thoughts on companion animals in general - they've generally not let it be publicly known that they think that companion animals are slaves to humans and we shouldn't have pets at all. They think that all pets that are currently living should be sterilized so that none of them reproduce and within a couple generations every species of companion animals will die off and we won't have them anymore - any companion animal of any kind - cats, dogs, rabbits, fish - whatever - they're all our slaves and shouldn't really exist because since they can't survive in nature - they shouldn't be here. They also think that even if we DO let companion animals exist - we still SHOULD kill every pit bull - they are the most abused animal on the earth - so in order to SAVE them - we have to KILL every one of them - so we can't hurt them anymore.

But anyway - on to the breeder thing. I can't believe they'd say that breeders are the reason why animals are dying in shelters. They most certainly are NOT - people who don't spay and neuter their mixed breed dogs are the reason why; people who don't take their lifetime committment to their companion animals are the reason why - and that includes people who own purebred dogs as well as mixed breeds; people who get animals for the wrong reason and then abuse the dogs are the reason why dogs are dying in shelters - they make them unadoptable.

Most responsible breeders are involved with rescue organizations that are specific to their breed - and have it written into their contracts that if a person buying one of their puppies can't stay with their owner - it can't go anywhere else except back to the breeder - so those dogs would never go into the shelter system - how is that putting any kind of tax on the shelter system?

Any responsible rescue person loves responsible breeders - in our perfect world we would only WANT to work with responsible breeders. It's the high volume farm type dog puppy mills that are the problem - and may I say that some of those places DO produce puppies that come with CKC/UKC/AKC papers.

But that being aside - I really hope that this latest campaign marginalizes PETA to the point that they are really seen as being a truly fringe organization only looking to get themselves attention and money. They are truly pathetic.

What a beautiful day today!

So today was a picture perfect today - a perfect day to go to the beach - so that was what me and the dogs did.
The dogs took full advantage of the sun and the sand and ran and ran and rolled and rolled until they couldn't roll or run anymore.
Isn't it wonderful that just a 15 minute drive will get us to places that are completely deserted and we can wantonly break the law because no one knows we're there?
I think that's fabulous, myself.
Me and literally 1000's of other people in the Halifax Regional Municipality do it each and every day of the year - that is - drive our dogs somewhere within the Municipality and illegally walk our dogs off leash.
And we do it willingly and lovingly because we know it's the right thing to do for our dogs.
And I'd also be willing to bet that there's many thousands of people who have absolutely no idea that they're breaking the law when they're doing it. They think they're just being good dog owners. Imagine that.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Tonight's Halifax Regional Council Meeting

So tonight I went to the Halifax Regional Council Meeting because they were going to have a Public Hearing and Debate on the proposed harmonized dog and cat bylaw - Bylaw A300. There were 32 people on the docket to speak at the Public hearing and I think I was about number 29! The meeting started at 6pm and I got to speak at about 9:30pm. For the first 2 1/2 hours I sat in an overflow room because the Council chambers were full to capacity - so there were a LOT of Halifax Regional Municipality tax payers who wanted to have their say about this proposed bylaw - and there were actually quite a few people who had some pretty good things to say. And some pretty provocative things to say too.
Even some of the Councillors said out loud that the Bylaw was garbage - which I thought was a bit uncalled for - Councillor Steve Streatch almost swore when it was suggested that barn cats on farms were considered domestic pets simply because they were cats and not livestock - so they would have to be licenced under the new bylaw.

Also - kennels and that section of the bylaw was talked about a lot - the fact that serious CKC hobby breeders wouldn't be able to operate under the proposed bylaw because they wouldn't be able to be zoned appropriately since almost all CKC breeders in the Municipality currently operate out of their own homes - so they are "in home occupations" - but a kennel under the land use bylaws wouldn't be zoned as an appropriate in home occupation - so all reputable CKC breeders would either have to shut down or move outside the Municipality if the bylaw passes as it's currently written.

Another huge thing is that all reptiles - iguanas, snakes, spiders - everything - are going to become illegal to own - and there's NO GRANDFATHER CLAUSE - that's been taken out. So anything that's owned currently is going to suddenly become illegal and have to be surrendered so that it can be killed. Can you imagine? There's no place to take the animals - so they'll all have to be killed. Now THAT is unacceptable.

The owner of the Atlantic Cat Hospital - Dr. Hugh Chisolm also talked tonight during the public hearings - and he had some really good things to say - he said the document is "reactive" - not "proactive" - which I thought was neat. He also said that most responsible cat owners keep their cats inside - and licencing those cats REALLY does NOT make sense. Pierre Trudeau said that government does not belong in the bedrooms of Canadians - and maybe we should take a cue from him - the HRM does not belong in the living rooms of HRM'S cat owners. Now THAT was a neat thing to say - because it's TRUE!

*******************

So now we're on to what I had to say - it was all about Daisy, as things like this usually are. There wasn't a whole lot of people left to hear what I had to say - but at least all the Councillors heard it - and my Councillor, Steve Adams emailed me after I gave my speech and said "You made a great presentation this evening. I've got to meet your dogs." - which I thought was nice.

So here's what I said, loosely -


What I want to talk about is a very narrow part of the bylaw - It's in the "interpretation" section – Item Number 2 – section 1 D – where it gives the definition of "attack" – it says attack means to attack without provocation, to chase, injure, or bite, - or to threaten or "give the impression of threatening". That last part – "give the impression of threatening" – to me – is way too vague – and could be used by people who have an unrealistic fear of dogs or have a
low tolerance for any kind of dog/human interaction.

Especially if you read a little bit further – because as well in the Interpretation section – Number 2 section 1 G defines a "Dangerous dog" as any dog which "attacks" or demonstrates a propensity to attack a human being or animal, either on public or private property.

In Section 1D – it's already stated that all you need to do to prove an attack is that the dog has "given the impression of threatening" – so now in Section 1G a dangerous dog is defined as a dog who "attacks" – therefore all a dog needs to do to be deemed dangerous under this proposed bylaw is to "give the impression of being threatening. And I don't think that's right.

The reason why I'm being sticky about this is that I have what I believe to be the most beautiful 3 dogs in the whole of the universe – a lab mix named Charlie, a bichon mix named Buttercup – and a rottweiller mix named Daisy.

Note: At this point I lifted up a picture of Daisy - which I have posted here:


Anyone who actually gets to meet and talk – and Daisy LOVES to TALK – with my rottweiller Daisy – falls head over heels in love with her. But people who only LOOK at Daisy – tend to be afraid of her. Daisy was tied to a dog house in Richmond County Cape Breton for the first 3 years of her life and didn't learn a lot of the skills dogs learn in their day to day living because of that. She is NOT a dangerous dog, she is NOT dog aggressive, but she unfortunately LOOKS a certain way –
she can certainly GIVE THE impression of being threatening.

Does that make her a dangerous dog? Simply because of the way that she looks? I think we all know that is not true – if we're in this room tonight, we're here because we're pretty animal savvy – and I wanted to get Daisy's face out there to show you that if you leave that wording in the 2 sections of the interpretation – you are going to be potentially KILLING dogs just like her – simply because of the
way they look – simply because they LOOK menacing.

By leaving wording that is intentionally vague like that in the Bylaw – everytime my Daisy goes out in public – someone could say that she "attacked" them simply because she ran up to them – and they felt "menaced" by her. And if you don't think it could happen – it DID happen to me this summer – but luckily Animal Control saw through the charade and lies of the complainant – THIS time. I was lucky.

I know that Calgary is always trotted out as the "template" du jour – but their definition of attack is "attack means an assault resulting in bleeding, bone breakage, sprains, serious bruising, or multiple injuries". That sound much more like an "attack" to me – than "gives the impression of threatening".

Thank-you.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Charlie and his back yard dream come true

This new video shows Charlie with his squirrel yesterday. I even got some video of the squirrel which is really neat. Charlie's tail is really wagging - he's so happy to have something productive and interactive to bark at. It's every dog's dream, really

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Best Comeback EVER

So I've been talking about and detailing my neighbour problems that I've been having here on my blog - and I've got to say I got one hell of a dig in yesterday.

Yesterday afternoon my Dad and me were out in the backyard when we saw 2 police cars pull up out in front of the house - and I was like - "what in the hell is going on?" - and the police people went into the house next door to me - the house that I've been having all the troubles with - the old lady who's been screaming at me about the fence, and taking away her 3 feet of property, the son who threatened to shoot Daisy, the woman who said that Daisy attacked her dog and "tore her dogs ear off" - even though when Animal Control visited a couple days later to document the case - at their calling - there were absolutely no marks on the dog - it was THEIR house the police people went into yesterday.

So a short time later - what do the police people come out of the house with? A honking huge GUN! They put it into their vehicle and go back into the house and stay there for a little while. They never take anyone away, but they certainly did take away the gun.

So after the police leave, my Dad and me and all the dogs are out in the backyard again. Charlie has taken to barking at one of the a**holes who lives in the house next door - and the guy has taken to shouting "shut up" at the top of his lungs at Charlie - and you can guess what this does to Charlie.

So yesterday the guy hollers over to me - if you don't make your dog stop barking - "I'm going to call the cops."

To which I say "they won't come for something like that - they only come for things like REMOVING GUNS FROM PEOPLE'S HOUSES".

That shut him up pretty fast.

That was the best comeback ever - especially since when I sent the police to their house they had adamantly said they didn't have any guns - because of course one of them had said to me "I've got a shot gun that will fix your dog up right". I hope that's the only gun they had.

Friday, September 7, 2007

3 Perfect Bull Terriers + some fuzzy shots

I ran into my friend Janet today who was out walking her dog Oreo + 2 english bull terriers that are currently residents in her in-home doggy day care - and boy are they cute! One is Josephine - who is 11 years old - and the other is a 14 week old puppy. It doesn't get much cuter than this.





Tonight we went and walked at a new super secret place and the dogs had a super fantastic time.
For some reason I seemed to have the settings wrong on the camera though, so everything was coming out blurry and grainy - and I only took photos of Daisy for some reason.


And then finally I had to include this photo that I took of Charlie with his front legs crossed - isn't he the cutest dog in the world? haha!