Rest in Peace Mitzi

I first met Mitzi at Seaview Park a couple years ago. She blended in perfectly with the crowd there - chasing after whatever ball was being thrown, trying to steal whomever's ball was on the ground and in play. She was the perfect, well-adjusted floppy eared black dog that is the back bone of every dog park in every city. Mitzi had 2 things that made her stand out though - the end of her tail was completely bald, and her owner was a big teddy bear that all the girls secretly were keeping an eye on out of the corner's of their eyes.

I actually have more pictures of Mitzi's Dad than Mitzi because at the time I met them all the ladies on NSDogs wanted to know about this guy who was saving dogs down in Cape Breton - so I was surrepticiously taking pictures of him at Seaview to fill their curiosity. Luckily for him though he was too young for most of us!

On the morning of November 28 - this past Tuesday, Marc woke up in the morning to find that Mitzi had died at some point through the night. She was only 3 years old. She'd had some kind of intestinal thing go wrong that he'd had no idea about. All her life she'd had skin problems - hence the naked tail. He'd taken her to PEI, various vets, holistic practicioners, anything you could think of - and then finally he and Mitzi had made peace with the fact that she was going to have a bald tail. She had fixed the rest of her body's skin problems - it was just the end of her tail that was beautifully bald. And that's what made her special anyway - I'm sure that if you met Mitzi and Marc you could see them from a few hundred feet away just from her tail. She was a one-in-a-million dog.

3 years isn't nearly enough time to have shared what she had to give Marc and the rest of us - but we don't have any say in the matter sometimes, do we? Life really is too short, and it is all equally precious.

Marc had a website where he put pictures that he'd taken of Mitzi - from when she was a puppy, right up until the end of August this year - it shows the width and breadth of how much one dog really can be loved. It's at http://www.black-phantom.net/~marc/mitzi/

He also sent me an email that he thought would be okay to share:

Hi Joan,

Yesterday morning I awoke to find that my beloved Mitzi had passed away
during the night. Dr. Carnegy determined that the cause of death was a
"hole" near her small intestine through which part of the intestine had
passed and become twisted, cutting off her circulation. He has only
seen three cases of this in his thirty years as a vet and said that he
had only ever discovered it after the dog had died. In the last hours I
spent with Mitzi I could tell that something was wrong, but she was calm
and apparently not in any pain. The last time I saw her alive was at
the foot of my bed before I went to sleep. In the morning I found her
downstairs in her donut bed by my computer desk, where we spend a great
deal of time. Mitzi was an amazing companion and our bond was stong.
To say I loved that dog is a gross understatement. Everyone who met
Mizti loved her and people always commented on her big beautiful eyes.

Everyone who goes to Long Lake and Seaview are going to notice a big hole, Marc - please accept our sincere condolences.

Is this not the cutest picture you've ever seen in your life? I really am the luckiest person on earth to have been blessed with such a dog as Buttercup, Teddy, Daisy and Charlie. I have been going mad with worry waiting for a family member to arrive home - now a day late because the special medical plane couldn't get off the ground today. So here we all wait. I think the dogs are noticing, too.

Marjorie asked why I've removed all references to Guysborough and Zeus and Sandy from my blog and took away the website that I'd built telling people not to spend any money in the district of the municipality of Guysborough while they had a breed ban on the derivation the pit bull type dogs and rottweillers. I got several other emails today about it too.

The answer is quite simple. I've got nothing but hassle and grief ever since I took up the cause of Guysborough - and last night I'd had enough - I've decided to let the DLCC and the people who hold the beliefs in that camp carry the mantle of the BSL fight forthwith - because I can't fight the people trying to end BSL AND enact BSL. For some reason, when you don't tow the line - you are a bad person, and I consider myself to be a good person - so I am removing the things that give me hassle. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe pit bulls SHOULDN'T be socialized. Maybe they SHOULDN'T ever be off leash or go to dog parks. Maybe they DO need dominance based training. Maybe my whole belief system about dogs is wrong. Maybe what everyone is telling me is right and I'm wrong. Maybe in 2026 dogs will cost $2,000 and be really hard to get and only be available in pet stores.

All I know is that I am tired of fighting with not only people who are supposed to be on the same side as me - but people who are supposed to be impartially reporting the news, but are instead reporting it with some kind of agenda that's frightening it, and manipulating the subjects in the report for their own profit, and that's reprehensible. And I'm tired of it. I just want to be a happy person who enjoys their dogs and has a normal life.

A Couple Posts

Here's an article that was in this week's Halifax West Clayton Park Weekly News - it's an absolutely awesome article about a video store in Clayton Park that actively advertises itself as being dog friendly.

I am calling the Halifax Daily News this morning and cancelling my subscription to the Chronicle Herald - having Peter Duffy, Rick Conrad's less than stellar columns and Jim MacDonald's threatening emails to me have convinced me that the Chronicle Herald does not deserve any of my money - and the Halifax Daily News is much more dog friendly - they seem to cover much more dog stuff than the Chronicle Herald EVER does.

On that note - I've removed all reference to Guysborough in my blog and on the internet in deference to Mr. Jim MacDonald - columnist for the Chronically Horrid.

Daisy and Buttercup LOVE Colpitt Lake

We went back to Colpitt Lake again today - and it is a bona fide hit with the dogs.

It's exactly like Long Lake there except that no one is there, it's a lot muddier, rockier, and it's not torn to shit. There's tons and tons of paths - it's going to take a long time to get to them all. We did run into some cyclists - Daisy would've loved to say "hello" to them - but luckily they were hollering at each other - so I leashed her up before she saw them. When they're off-roading like that they never seem to get going fast enough to out-run her - and they don't seem to like that for some reason. I don't know why. I personally would love any opportunity to say hello to her! haha!

Talk of the Block on CBC

If you're home this morning (Sunday November 19th) and you want to listen to the radio on your internet - an interview I gave a couple months for CBC radio
should be on this morning - it was about how different groups share
public spaces - namely how men who like to go to parks and meet up
with other men, and then interact - negatively or not - with people
who are walking their dogs. I was intereviewed people I talk about it
on my Spectacle Lake page on my website, and suggest people to be
aware of the fact. I think I may also call it "Testicle Lake".

Anyway - I'm not sure if any of my interview will make it, or if I'll
sound like a complete idiot - which I'm sure if any of my talking does
make it - I'm sure I will! But it's supposed to be on this morning
regardless.

You go to http://www.cbc.ca/listen/# and then click on "Halifax" -
which will bring up a pop up box which should start playing the
Halifax station automatically.

Update Sunday night: My interview DID make it onto the segment and in fact the show started off with "I'm Joan Sinden and you're listening to Talk of the Block on CBC Radio!" - and I just about had a heart attack here in my living room. My section of the show was pretty long, but Jean LaRoche edited me pretty good. We talked about the fact that Seaview Park is one of only 2 legal off-leash dog parks in the city and sometimes when there are negative interactions with the "men" because the dogs bark at them because they've gotten out of their cars to do their "business" and the "men" get mad at the dog owners and the dogs - what are them going to do - call the police? And Jean LaRoche interjects at that point and says - those are tough words - but she's got a point! haha!

I said quite a bit more, but I don't want to bore a whole new crowd of people.

It starts at 8:30am Halifax time - enjoy it for it's less tangible
attributes anyway!

ps: The picture above is NOT one of the park's "men" - but Jean LaRoche - the Talk of the Block's host during our interview! haha! Some days it's so hard to tell the difference, isn't it?

ARPO in the HRM' s First Demonstration!

Well - I think the first demonstration in front of a Pet Store that sells live animals yesterday went fabulously! Except for the fact that afterward I had to go home and sleep for 12 hours straight because I am such an old lady. The dogs are going to be full of piss and vinegar today, that's for sure!

We were able to handle out tons of our educational materials which gave local alternatives to buying your next puppy from a pet store, a map which had locations in Bayer's Lake that you could buy your pet supplies at stores that didn't sell live animals, and several brochures that were personalized for Nova Scotia from the nopuppymillscanada site. We got 100's of signatures on our petition that we've started to enact a law that disallows the sale of companion animals in pet stores - and what truly amazed us all was the amount of people who already knew about the relation between puppy mills and pet stores. Now we just have to get the information out there that the alternatives to pet stores really IS the better way to go.

I of course made a movie of the day - and it even has a couple dogs in it, though they're not mine - I thought my dogs might get too tired with me trying to impose my ideas on everybody passing by - but still - these dogs performed pretty well too I think! haha! Here it is!

Some Other Stuff

Tomorrow is demonstration, picketing day for Pet's Unlimited. I was out doing some reconnaisance today. While I was there I did some filming so I could get a feel for the landscape we're going to be at tomorrow - and it struck me it would make a good movie - so here it is... but be forewarned, there's no dogs it it. But I think it's still funny!



Here's Teddy and Buttercup tonight - Teddy wouldn't let me put his jacket on tonight so he had to go out naked! Luckily it's been really warm here so he didn't mind too much. He wasn't enjoying getting his feet wet though.

Ticks are everywhere in the HRM

I have become consumed by ticks. Deer ticks, black legged ticks, dog ticks. Whatever kind of ticks you'd like to find. There are currently 14 species of ticks known to have made their way to this fair isle of Nova Scotia - and several of those species have made their way to the Halifax Regional Municipality - and 2 of them in particular are latching themselves onto our dear canine life companions.

The good news is that lyme disease has only been found in one small sampling of the dreaded insect - out in a small spot in Bedford. So that's good - but Andrew Hebda says it's just a matter of time until it spreads everywhere - scientists are just so truthful, aren't they?

I went and visited Andrew Hebda at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History for about an hour today and we gleefully went through a couple power point presentations and several scientific manuals about all the different kind of ticks there are, and he showed me actual samples of dead ticks and we both had a really good time just gushing about ticks. It was really fascinating. And horrifying at the same time. Yuck. But at least I know for sure now that it's actually ticks I'm pulling off of poor Charlie and Daisy - which is bad news for all the dog owners in the HRM.

Last night I made a new page on the Charlie loves Halifax website that gives instructions on what to do when you find a tick and who to send it to - because the entomologists of the province are trying to track all the ticks as people find them. Mr Hebda said that it's mostly birds who bring them in, and also dogs who've been camping with their owners and then come back into the city. Damn people out having fun! How dare they? haha!

Daisy Got Very Confused Tonight!

Tonight when we were slogging around Seaview 2 huge great danes showed up - Drea and Thor were their names - and Daisy had no idea what to do about them! There were 2 little pit bulls there - Tony and Rocky - and Rocky kept trying to hump Drea for some reason, but Daisy just kept pacing around them and barking. It was as if Daisy had finally met her match - she had finally met someone of the canine species that she did not feel comfortable trying to pin down, and she was not happy about it! But there wasn't anything she could do because they were so huge - so what she was going to do was just maintain a perimeter of about 12 feet and just howl at them. I don't know why dogs are so insecure.

We also saw the beautiful dog Casey - isn't Casey beautiful? He's the most well mannered 88 pound amstaff, boxer....shit, I forget what else is in him - but there's something else in him too. His mom was pure amstaff (Lady who was a Seaview regular) and his Dad was ....shit I'm having a brain fart about his name too.... but he was a Seaview regular too. Another one of those "wanting to have a litter so they could have puppies because they were such nice dogs thingee. Casey turned out nice though.

Now HERE is something Interesting Coming Up

I don't know how this escaped my radar for an upcoming dog event - the owner's of FRED's dog who's name is Lola go to Janet Chernin's doggy day care - so I've taken tons of pictures of her - she is SO photogenic - and there was an article in today's Chronicle Herald about an event coming up at their business. It sounds like it's going to be quite the "to do". Very hoy-folloy. I'm definitely going to get a button made when I'm there. Of which dog - I do not know yet.

From today's Chronicle Herald:

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Search/540954.html

Set your sights on Pet Spectacle

By ELISSA BARNARD Arts Reporter

Eyelevel Gallery's fundraising party, Pet Spectacle, Saturday, Nov.
25, 8 p.m., at FRED, 2606 Agricola St., celebrates four-legged,
feathered, floating and furry friends with an auction of pet-inspired
art and design. Admission is $3.

The gallery invited local and national artists to create objects —
clothing, accessories, dwellings and more — for, or about, pets.

The evening includes an auction, performances, live music and prizes.

Pet owners are encouraged to bring a photo of their animals for the
on-the-spot button-making machine.

The evening also marks the launch of petri dish, a CD compilation of
Halifax musicians and bands who love animals. Copies of the limited
edition CD will be for sale.
This is Hamish, Lola, and Quinta

Demonstration to be held this Saturday, November 18, 2006 outside Pet's Unlimited Pet Stores

THIS IS GOING TO BE FUN!

Advocates for Responsible Pet Ownership in the Halifax Regional
Municipality (ARPO) will be holding a peaceful demonstration at Pet's
Unlimited, Bayer's Lake Location on November 18th, 2006 from 12 to
3pm.

This demonstration will be ongoing at the four (4) locations of Pet's
Unlimited in the HRM during the upcoming holiday season. We will be
handing out literature for the public's education about the vending of
puppy mill and back yard bred dogs as stock purchase, highlighting the
risks associated.

Yours in dogs and pets,

Annette Armitage
netta@seabright.homeip.net

Joan Sinden
dogkisser@gmail.com

Janet Chernin
caninecasbah@eastlink.ca

If you would like to become involved with this newly formed group and
are interested in ending the selling of live animals in pet stores -
or want to find out where the puppies actually come from that are sold
by the brokers - also known as pet stores - and alternatives that you
can choose instead of buying your next companion animal at a pet store
- email one of the contacts listed above!

Thanks!

EXCELSIOR! We found Colpitt Lake!

Well today we finally found it - we found Colpitt Lake out here in Spryfield - and it was worth it. I loved it there. It was awesome. What a great walk it was. It was really funny too - because I have absolutely no sense of direction so I always tend to follow Charlie because he seems to be able to know where the paths are - but today I said to him "I don't think the path is there - I think it's over here" when we first arrived. And wouldn't you know when we were leaving that the path we left on (which was the proper path that we found part way through the walk) - was the way that Charlie had tried to get me to follow when we first arrived! Charlie is SO good with paths and I am SUCH an idiot! haha! When you don't have a sense of direction you should always follow your dog!

We will definitely being going back to Colpitt Lake on a regular basis - although I've been told that there's coyotes there - so maybe we won't be going there after dark - Teddy and Buttercup would be a nice snack for them.

The Fashionista

Yesterday when we were out for our "little dog" weekend morning walk down at Point Pleasant Park we walked down along the shoreline for a little while and I took a couple pictures of Buttercup with one of her fall sweaters on.

She was acting like as if she was some big fashion model out on a fashion shoot or something - no matter what I asked her - she refused to look at the camera, and she kept striking these poses. She is the biggest diva!

(Note - her feet have been going that colour when they get wet - she's been chewing them so they've become nice and porphyrin stained - and she hasn't let me cut the hair on her toes yet to finish off her current hair cut - so her feet are a mess - that part of a diva she is NOT!)

a Ton of Pictures

I've said before that I Love All things Google - I've started using the Google Photo Albums - and tonight I uploaded a bunch of pictures to my album that I've taken in the past of Charlie, Teddy, Buttercup and Daisy and some other stuff if you care to take a look. I had to upload some pictures because I'm going to be interviewed for an online television show that's coming up about Charlieloveshalifax and the lady wanted to see some photos.

I'm not quite sure yet about how and where the interview is going to air - so when I find out - I'll put it here where it's going to be. Charlie really is a media whore!

The photos are posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/dogkisser - make sure you look at the landscapes page - I love the "photo stitch" capabilities of Canon cameras!

This one's for you Jennifer Tanner!

So I'm not only crazy about dogs - I'm also crazy about fish. It all started years ago when I was at a Secretary's Day luncheon and they used a live GOLDFISH as a table decoration. I was horrified. I ended up taking the fish home instead of them just flushing it down the toilet, I spent about $200 on a tank for that one fish - and the rest is history - much to my parents eternal dismay.

It's not bad enough that they're going to be sharing the family burial plot with dogs and cats and a couple rats - but FISH? I mean, come on Joan! (I am planning on having my ashed mixed with those of my companion animals when I die - and that includes my favourite fish that I've had along the way - and woe and behold we have a family burial plot - my Mom says I'm going to be buried at my Dad's FEET - which is OK with me).

But anyway - my current crop of fish includes these white cloud minnows - and I've had them for over a year and they've been very placid happy things - and lately they've been acting like siamese fighting fish with each other - flaring up their fins - like I didn't even realize they could flare up their fins like this! haha! It's so cute! If you notice in the video - the tank looks almost empty - except for that pokey female guppy - but when this is going on everyone gets the h-e-double hockey sticks out of there. It is just too cute! I wonder what's going on?

White cloud minnows are egg layers - so I haven't had any babies with them - unlike my platys and guppies - from whome I've had HUNDRED'S of babies - who I take to my friend who has a fish store. I guess they're feeling a bit Randy...

Enjoy the video anyway!

Big Daddy Sambro

We went to the beach this afternoon, and boy did I need it.

I've taken lots of photo's at Crystal Crescent - but today I decided to take some video of my special spot that I especially love at the place that we go - so I uploaded it to You Tube. I also found a very nice buoy - so it was a red banner day. Today was the first time I actually found a buoy that had a name on it too - it said "Big Daddy Sambro" - is that fabulous or what? So if you know anyone by the name of Bid Daddy Sambro - I have one of his buoys if he wants it back.

Please enjoy this video!

A new new video from Dogkisser!

I was at the Metro Dog Wash doing some shopping and was captivated by the stuff Terri had in for Christmas - so I flexed my movie making skills and made a little video - here it is for your enjoyment - I even added some VERY cute pictures of Buttercup enjoying some new dog treats that are made by the groomer that Terri has hired - Kathleen - who Teddy has graciously allowed to cut his own hair! I think Buttercup enjoyed them! haha!

Some Humpin' and Some Volunteerin'

So the evening's this week have been pretty busy. One evening I went out to the Halifax Shopping Centre to volunteer at a booth that the Metro Branch SPCA has set up to raise funds for Christmas stuff - it's at the Community Booth on the 1st level and they've got it set up this week and next week at the Halifax Shopping Centre. They've also got stuff planned at Sunnyside Mall before Christmas - usually they'd be doing the major stuff at HSC but they're doing renovations there - so Sunnyside Mall is going to be where they're going to set up their Christmas tree where you can buy bulbs for your dog.

Last night we went to see the parents and entertain them with Buttercup's humping dance one last time because today they left for Florida for 6 months. There's no more free meals or cookies now until next May. It's now a strict diet of toast and ice cream. I guess we'll muddle through somehow.

A Dose of Reality about the 1960's and Today

Just to be clear here, I am not affiliated with the Best Friends Animal Society in any way - I am simply an admirer of their work and believe that they do good stuff. I am quite sure that they are not infallible, but they have got some really good ideas about how to improve the quality of life for our companion animals - and they are actually trying to do something about it - today - instead of just complaining about how everybody else is evil and killing animals by the awful things they're doing.

I was not alive to actually experience the 1960's - but my brother was - and he says it was a wonderful time to be a young person. He can tell you some pretty whacked out stories about walking about 20 flights of stairs at St. Mary's University here in Halifax on mescaline and all the lights in stairwell are going off and flashing like firecrackers around him and his legs were like rubber and his body had turned into a green gumby like shape. The 1960's was a super time to be alive.

But in 2006 he's a normal person just like you and me - right now today he's in Montreal at a building supply convention representing a very stand-up company buying and selling millions of dollars worth of lumber type stock.

The person who provided the website that I gave the link to in my post about whether Best Friends is a cult "Ms Jade" - left a comment on that post - you can read it at http://dogkisser.blogspot.com/2006/11/is-best-friends-animal-society-cult.html#c116278913992090858 if you're not in the habit of reading the comments to my posts. It's quite a hoot. The first thing I'd say is - have you never heard the term "metaphor" before? The second thing I'd say is - this tome was written FORTY years ago - what does this have to do with the Best Friends Animal Society that exists today?

Perhaps "Ms Jade" has never been to university and never taken a literature course before - so she doesn't understand that things can have more than one level - the word "Satan" may mean something else. It may be a "metaphor" for something else. Mr DeGrimston may be talking about something entirely other than the devil. Back in the 1960's my brother would have done just about anything to get into a girl's pants - up to and including diatribes such as this.

And one of my personal favourite sayings is - "when the revolution comes - that person is going to be the first one up against the wall" - that whole passage is saying basically the same thing as that one line. So am I as evil as Mr DeGrimston? I say it in jest. But because you only see it in print you can't see my inflection.

So in other words - you people are looking for something that isn't there. Give it up. Go and volunteer at your local shelter if you actually care about animals. Do you even own a dog or cat? If you do, turn around from your computer screen right now and spend some time with them. Stop harassing the people who are trying to actually do some good in this world. Because the 1960's are over.

I am Buddhist. I don't believe in God. Are you going to come after me now?

Out Damn Tick!

I found another tick on Charlie tonight. I wonder why I keep finding ticks on poor Charlie and not the other dogs? Is it because he's got a nice thick coat for them to dig right into and snuggle into? He's the only double coated dog in the crew. This one was ensconced very happily underneath his collar.

The last suggestion I had to remove the tick failed miserably (that being to stick it with a hot needle so that I pissed him off enough so that he pulled out his head and I could get him out with tweezers. What actually happened was that when I stuck him with the needle his guts spurted out and I killed him instantly and his head stayed firmly underneath Charlie's skin and Charlie got a nice big bump where the tick had been) - so this time I tried the next suggestion on the list - which was to rub salt on the tick. And guess what? IT WORKED! EXCELSIOR! I tugged on the tick with the tweezers - and he came out head and all! So SALT is the panacea for ticks. I am going to rub salt on ticks from now on.

The picture above is one I took directly after extracting the little bastard from Charlie's neck - the hair attached to the tweezer is one of poor Charlie's. Witness that there is no blood in the tick - so he hadn't had a chance yet to start sucking - so I'm assuming that he became attached to my canine soul mate in our failed quest to reach Colpitt Lake. So the little blood suckers are also in Spryfield.

Another note about insecticides - I typed Revolution+Advantage+Sentinel into Google and I came up with http://www.hometownanimalcare.com/online_meds.html which told me about those 3 drugs - which was interesting because in the comments to my earlier post about ticks Revolution was posited as a replacement for Advantage because it's also topical. I see in that website that Revolution also protects against Heartworm - which we don't have yet in Nova Scotia.

But this website talks about a topical drug called "Frontline" - that kills fleas and ticks. I'm going to ask my vet about that and see if I can get some of that - because we really don't need the heartworm protection yet - thank dog.

Some days you hit gold, some days you hit dog shit!

Today we went to try and find Colpitt Lake. Today we did NOT find Colpitt Lake!

Colpitt Lake is somewhere in Spryfield and the trail starts behind a church - my friend Adele who has Nikki and Penny - she owns an online shop at my furry friends and also sells some stuff at Metro Dog Wash - told me about the trail - but I forgot exactly WHICH church she said the trail started behind, and there's a couple churches on the Herring Cove Road!

So today I tried St. Michael's Church - and guess what - I think it was the wrong church. It did in fact have a trail behind it - but Spryfield is chock a block with trails, that's what I LOVE about Spryfield, and why it's perfection for dogs - but this one was full of garbage and dog shit, and it went behind houses and ended at a subdivions not too far in. So of course Buttercup rolled around in a bunch of dog shit, Daisy rolled around in a bunch of dog shit, Teddy tried to eat some dog shit, Daisy tried to eat some dog shit, Charlie tried to go meet everyone at the back of the houses. Melee's were everywhere. I had a good time doing my whole "Cesar Millan" - eh's - and "I's" - like I did way before Cesar Millan was a household name in order to herd the dogs. I did get one comment from a neighbourhood hooligan about how well trained the dogs were though because they did everything I told them to - although of course I couldn't stop them from rolling in shit.

I didn't have a good time, we didn't find Colpitt Lake - but I'm pretty sure the dogs had a good time though. I'm going to have to email Adele and ask here WHICH church this trail is behind though. I'll report back when we're successful. The trail is supposed to be like 8 kms long - now THAT should be fun!

Is Best Friends Animal Society A Cult?

Thank Dog for RESEARCH and the internet! If there could be a cult for that, I would join up! I've been getting emails for days about Best Friends Animal Society - the last bastion of a stalwart rescue group that actually does do good work down in the United States in taking in animals and offering them shelter and saving animals, and trying to make a difference in the world - in making the world a kinder and gentler place.

But I've been getting emails about how they are actually a cult that goes back 30 years that has connections to Charles Manson, and they're really an evil organization and blah blah blah. It all has to do with the fact that they "dared" to hold a "Dangerous dogs Summit" a couple weeks ago and didn't invite any of the "leading" BSL experts to speak - and now those "experts" have decided that the people who did speak at the conference are trying to kill every bull dog in North America.

If you'd like proof of that you need look no further than the mouthpiece of the current right wing BSL movement - Dogpolitics.com - and Barb's post "MSN - Exterminating a breed through Kindness" - that post pretty much says everything that's been floating through the Yahoo groups the last couple weeks - the slander of BFAS and Tammy Grimes - without actually saying anything about the right wing BSL movement wants themselves.

What do the people behind Dogpolitics.com, NAIA, ADOA, the DLCC, Dog Holocaust, Workingpitbull want that's any different than Best Friends?

It was my impression that they also wanted legislation to curb bad breeders, (hint - the acronyn for DLCC is Dog LEGISLATION Council of Canada), LEGISLATION to lower spay and neuter costs, licensing costs, to put the onus of good ownership back on the owner. Can someone please tell me how this is any different than what Best Friends is trying to accomplish?

The only thing that is different is that it's going to be going into BEST FRIENDS bank account rather than the bank accounts of the other groups. Period. That's why everybody is angry.

The point was also raised about why the summit was held in Denver - why give money to Denver when they killed 2,000 pit bulls last year? Duh - maybe it's BECAUSE they killed 2,000 pit bulls last year? What better place to hold a summit on dangerous dogs? To raise awareness about the fact? To point out the stupidity that the city you're holding the summit in killed 2,000 of the dogs you're trying to save? Seems like a no-brainer to me...

Okay - back to the Manson thing - this is such a beautiful thing. American's love doing this - there's all kinds of websites popping up about how Best Friends is a cult and how they have so much proof about it. You can go to this website:
http://www.thedogpress.com/Columns/Jade/06_BestFriendsHist.Pt.1._10.htm and read all about it. But if you do a little digging (like I did) - you'll find out that on the Best Friends website - they talk about it themselves. It doesn't seem to be indexed anywhere - but they have a history of the organization at http://www.bestfriends.org/aboutus/oldhistory/intro.htm

This series of pages is interesting - because who are you going to believe? The sensationalists (the arses) or the horses mouth? Me - I'm going to believe the horses mouth. Specifically - there's a section at http://www.bestfriends.org/aboutus/oldhistory/story7.htm where they say:

And one day in 1969, one of those "Aliens Stole My Lunch" tabloid rags had a story in it that the infamous murderer Charles Manson had had something to do with The Process. (Apparently he liked animals, too.) We took no notice at the time. But a couple of years later, a book was published in the United States that drew on those same rumors. And an attorney friend told us that we simply had to file a lawsuit. So we did. The author of the book promptly fled, rather than even show up to the deposition hearing, leaving the extremely embarrassed publisher to settle as quickly as possible. Existing copies of the book were withdrawn, offending sections were to be removed from any future printings, and a public apology issued. But the whole affair left a nasty taste in our mouths. And to this day, the story and other rumors float around on the Internet.

So there you have it. Go read the story of Best Friends Animal Society before they became a sanctuary - but go read the version provided by the horse's mouth - not the asse's arse. You'll get a much more accurate version. It won't be quite as sensational - but you'll probably be more satisfied at the end. I know I was.

As for the Dangerous Dog Summit and whether Best Friends Animal Society and Tammy Grimes are going to set back the BSL movement - that's bullshit too. That's the thing about dog people - a lot of us are absolutely crazy - the pro-BSL people are all laughing up their ass-holes right now because of all the in-fighting that's going on - they know that when we're fighting with each other we can't fight THEM. In which case it's THEM who wins either way. In which case I say - SHAME ON YOU anti BSL people who are attacking Best Friends and Tammy Grimes.

Best Friends and Tammy Grimes are seeking solutions to the problem - the people who are attacking them are simply seeking to keep their place in a political movement that doesn't need any more sides drawn. It only needs a LOT more allies if this fight is going to be won. My rottweiller Daisy NEEDS all of you working TOGETHER.

A new new video from Dogkisser!

I call this one "ring around the liver" - out in the backyard this afternoon I videotaped everyone's prowess with their ability to catch a piece of liver when I threw it at them!

A Couple new Posts to my Dumpster Diving Blog

Those of you who have read "this" blog for a while know I have other blogs - I have a blog about dogs and Buddhism called "Dogs are Dharma" where I talk about how to bring your dog into your rituals and how dogs might help us become enlightened.

I also have a blog about stuff I find in other people's garbage called "Dogkisser's Sweet dumpster finds" - my motto about my possessions is - "if you're ready to throw it out in the garbage - it's ready to come into my house!" - that seems to be how I've gotten most of animals too, it seems - and that's worked out pretty good too.

As with everything else there's a philosophy that goes along with it - but I won't bore you with it - I'll just give you a couple pictures and a link to try and lure you over there - above is a picture of Charlie modelling one of my finds and below is a picture of some fencing that my friend found that was a truly MOMENTOUS find - enough chain link fencing to fence her entire yard. Is that awesome or what?

Go to http://dogkisserfinds.blogspot.com/ to read more...

Some Questions answered...

I mentioned that I give my guys Advantage for their fleas as opposed to Sentinel - and now I'm going to be giving them Sentinel because I found a tick on Charlie and he had to have gotten it from somewhere on peninsular Halifax.

I've always tried to use the least amount of anything that I could - when you think about it - Advantage and Sentinel are insecticide - poison - what they do is kill fleas and ticks - or you can say that they repel them - Advantage is a topical thing that you put on the outside of their body once a month, whereas Sentinel is a pill that they ingest that actually stays INSIDE their body for a whole month - and it makes me wonder what it's doing to their body if it's killing and repelling fleas and ticks. But Advantage only kills fleas while Sentinel is supposed to kill both fleas AND ticks - so that's why I'm going to have to bump up now...

So that's why I've always tried to avoid it. But unfortunately - companion animals have to live with us - and they not only have to live in my house - but they also have to go to houses of people I visit, stores I go to, mingle with other dogs, and go to public spaces - so if there's ticks around locally - they have to be treated for it. Until this year they had never had fleas - but I've been told that this year has been a really bad year for fleas - or maybe it's an age thing and their immune system can't fight them off anymore, I don't know. But, man - they can't have fleas. Gross. Have you seen 4 dogs all in a row chewing on themselves? All the sudden you feel like you're in a puppy mill. Blech.


Another question I got recently that I haven't been able to answer was about Christmas cards - and whether any local rescue offered them for sale - I have good news and so-so news - there are Santa pix that go on every year put on the Metro SPCA - at various locations and times. I was the photographer for them for two years - I'm not sure where and when they are this year - but when I find out I'll post it here - and you can get your photo taken with Santa and then go use that photo to get Christmas cards made knowing that the photo came from charity.

OT: Cat Humour

Sorry, I'm of the generation that enjoyed Hunter S. Thompson - so this photo is especially amusing. I laughed out LOUD when I saw it. May Mr. Thompson rest in peace. I wish I had 1/2 - no 1/10 - actually, I'd be happy with probably 1/100th the drugs he had in his life. That'd be sweet.