Really, I've had a seriously shitty cold, and I've been getting stuff ready so that about 75 people can hear the true and clear gospel according to Silvia Jay this coming weekend on May 1st at Fetch Inc when she's going to talk at a one day seminar about fear and aggression. It's going to be great. I organized a seminar for her last year, and everyone learned a lot - so I know Saturday is going to be just as good. My belief that she is the best dog trainer in Nova Scotia is not something that I say lightly - and that's why I'm so happy that I get to help spread her word in this small way.
I have to admit too that some days it's hard to sit down and dedicate large chunks of my life to a project (this blog) when I'm constantly barraged by denigrating comments about it from other bloggers - describing it as "endless boring pictures of her dogs doing non-fascinating things like running in the park or eating cheese" - and getting harassing emails. It makes you not think that what you're doing is really worthwhile and is making any kind of difference when that's all the feedback you get - is from the people who think you're a piece of shit and you really do deserve to die - for no reason other than you have a blog about dogs that gets a few thousand hits a month. So you could say that I've been doing some navel gazing.
Such as that is though - I'll continue on with a couple articles I found that were interesting in the last few days - one was today about a book club for dog owners that was started in Portland Oregon which was neat - although if I was involved with starting it up all owners would be allowed to bring their dogs - I'd find a venue where all dogs would be allowed. If you're interested in finding an online version of the story - Yahoo has a group that has almost 6,000 members and they do a different book every month - it's at http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/DogRead/ - the article from Oregonlive.com is at the bottom of this post.
I'm putting the next article up because it reminds me of my Dad - an 87 year old guy in Illinois got his 5 year old dog stuck in his automated chair - my Dad has exactly the same chair and all day he goes up and down in it with Buttercup in his lap and I can see this happening to Buttercup - I hope the fire department never has to come to my house with the jaws of life!
I've also been trying to spend time in my backyard too - my Dad has strung up really neat lights that came from our cottage (which he sold this past winter) and we've got a chiminea now (also from there) - I haven't checked yet to see whether or not my wireless will go all the way to the chiminea, but it would be neat if it would. I think I'd be better off it didn't though. Here are the articles -
Firefighters rescue Illinois dog stuck in reclining chairNAPERVILLE, Ill. — Three suburban Chicago firefighters rescued a small dog that became trapped inside a mechanized recliner chair by sawing the piece of furniture apart.
Ken Makris says his terrier, Ebonyser, has nerve damage following his Thursday night ordeal but that he is "coming along fine."
Firefighters who responded to an emergency call from the Sunrise of Naperville assisted living center Thursday arrived to find a nurse's aide hanging onto the chair to relieve the pressure on the dog and allow it to breathe. Firefighter and paramedic Scott Bolda says the chair's electrical controls stopped working when Ebonyser become wedged inside.
Makris, 87, says the 5-year-old pooch is on painkillers but that he was able to go out for a walk Monday.
Club in Portland launched for people who love books about dogs
By Jacques Von Lunen,
Despite appearances, the club is for people, not dogs.A dog book club has started in Portland.
No, it's not a club to teach dogs to read -- it's for people who want to share their thoughts on books about dogs.
Guide Dogs for the Blind will organize Portland's first book club just for dog people. Canine-loving bibliophiles will meet once a month at the Guide Dogs for the Blind downtown center.
Dogs enlisted in the guide-dog program are allowed to attend the meetings; pet dogs -- or any other pet species -- aren't. The first meeting is May 12, so you better get reading the current selection, which is "Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior," by Temple Grandin.
The book to discuss the following month will be "Dear Kilroy: A Dog to Guide Us," by Nora Vitz Harrison, who will attend the June 9 meeting.
Bring recommendations for future selections to the first meeting May 12, so organizers can put together a book calendar.For more information contact Sheila Shulleeta via email or call 360-607-1276.
The dog book club will run from 11:30 a.m.- 1:30 p.m., and will be held the second Wednesday of each month thereafter. Bring your own lunch; soft drinks will be provided. The GDB downtown center is at 220 S.W. Yamhill Street in Portland.
for the record...i love the commentary, pictures and Jackie's cheese demands!
ReplyDeleteJoan, you really need help! You told the CBC you think Francesca Rogier should get Brindi back, yet you keep waging some kind of sick battle against her. We all see how you constantly go out of your way to publish digs at her. You show up in court just about every time, you try to get at her on Twitter and with your blog, and then you claim she's harassing you. Everyone can see that you're obsessed to the point that you have no compassion or sensitivity at all for someone else who loves their pets just as much as you do. Please examine your behavior and talk to a professional if you can. It's going way too far.
ReplyDeleteThis is the kind of bullshit I'm talking about. Everyone knows that "nobody important" is actually you Francesca - you come here within a couple hours of me making this post to harass me. Why am I harassing you when I show up in court and staff from the SPCA NOT harassing you when THEY show up in court every time you're there? Why am I so special to you? Have you asked yourself that? Leave me alone, Francesca. YOU need to talk to a professional Francesca - YOU are the one making multiple twitter posts about me. Leave me alone.
ReplyDeleteJoan, long after nobody remembers nobody important, dog lovers in ns and beyond will still be enjoying your blog
ReplyDeleteJoan,
ReplyDeletePlease tie some of those sundry pieces of rope together and do the right thing. Hang yourself. Obviously your retreat did you know good as no one with any kind of spirituality could be as venomous as you, you stinking waste of flesh.
Hope you won't stop posting, Joan. Your blog and website are very valuable and you are a big and appreciated voice in NS.
ReplyDeleteBaffles me that anybody who reads to what level some people stoop with their comments still supports them. Scary world - an no dog should live with someone who's in that frame of mind - especially not one in such need of guidance.
Francesca - on Twitter you call me a nutcase- I guess I am for saying all this time that I thought that I you should get your dog back - as of right now I am withdrawing that opinion, I hope the judge gives her to someone who actually will care about the dog And not just on winning so that she can say thAt she beat everyone and us now a superior human being - which is untrue - if you "win" it won't make you any more likable or g et you any local support - it will only get your dog bacxk and that's when you are actually going to have to prove yourself - I hope you are ready for it
ReplyDeleteAbout Me didn't read yr post very well before spewing that stinking waste of putrid words.
ReplyDeleteIt's Francesca, the poor pitiful pauper impoverished and victimized by a vindictive HRM and that evil organization that does so much for animals across the country--the SPCA—go back, click on the link & try again to read it “About Me" (you sure DO tell a lot about yourself!)
It is Francesca who went off on the $325 (according to their website data on cost for that particular event) weekend yoga retreat at Mercey River Chalets. But you are right about one thing About Garbage—it sure doesn’t seem to have done anything for her spirituality. But that never was her strong suit—victimization, whining & vengeance seem to be.
Wonder how all the people contributing money feel. I’ll bet some of them can’t afford a relaxing weekend in the woods doing yoga, all meals provided.
Joan, your blog brightens the day for a lot of us.
Dear, dear Joan, I now see why you disabled comments earlier. People like "nobody important" and "Old Maid" are hateful, scarey people.
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry you have to put up with this shit.
If Rogier had wanted to keep her dog she's have spent her money on a fence after the FIRST offence rather than spending the $$$ on jacking up her house.
She's a dipsy lady and you shouldn't pay attention to her or her toadies.
Please don't let her feel any more self important by driving you out of the Blogging biz.
Big hug,
Sybil
OMG Joan, I referenced "Old maid" in my comments when I meant "about me"
ReplyDeleteCan you correct that please.
Sheepishly.
Sybil
Please oh please oh please can't we just fucking deport her once and for all? Why did this particular piece of flotsam end up on our shores? What did the dogs and the people of this community ever do to deserve her and her totally obscene followers? I am ready to hang my fucking self if the Canada Border Services Agency doesn't knock on her door (does her shack have a door??) and send her ass back to whatever backwoods swamp it crawled out of.
ReplyDeleteJoan, I don't always agree with you and have been the target of a comment of yours a time or two, but I still put the site faithfully in my favorites and check it every few days because I personally find it interesting. I'm constantly amazed at the hatefulness of certain people and I do think there is more than one person in this whole mess that could use a bit of counselling.
ReplyDeleteThe way I see it, she screwed up and she knows it but doesn't want to accept that, and is now trying to get as much attention as she can at the expense of her dog to be 'vindicated', but I don't think that's ever going to happen. I also wonder if the dog, if she DID get returned, would become again a victim of her owner's inattention.
I used to check that other blog that n.i. posts on but found myself shaking my head every time I read it, so I don't bother anymore. I do know where these people are coming from in the sense that I got a bit sucked in by certain people to act against others and found myself, as much as I tried not to, scanning the 'net for any place I might have been mentioned or bashed, finding it, and feeling sick that I was being 'maligned' (in my own mind)-- then posting equally nasty stuff back - it's not a nice feeling and hopefully they'll get over that like I managed to.
Anyway, they'll soon find something else to focus on, hopefully.
Joan, once again, you're wrong, and so are your "friends" who love to butter you up.
ReplyDeleteWe are not who you think we are. In fact, you would be shocked to find out who nobody important really is.
You are the one who chooses to comment on Francesca, who takes off work to go to court, and makes her business your business. Since you ask - the SPCA staff are in court because they are directly INVOLVED. They took care of Brindi for over a year. You have no involvement to speak of, yet you show up.
The facts show that Brindi was singled out among so many other dogs that bit people or animals, even killed animals. There was no first offense until six months after she was taken. So the idea about "pity" and "spin" is ludicrous, and only used by haters like Gail Gallant, who is herself guilty of harassment. Frankly, if Gail is one of your biggest fans, you've got bigger problems than Francesca.
And don't forget, Joan, Francesca got the law changed. What have you and your buddies really done to protect dogs in HRM? In the meantime, you changed your mind about ten times, about her as well as the SPCA.
We can't help noting that amidst a huge outpouring of positive support, you and your friends form a tiny minority that persists in spreading untruths about this one person. Yet you ignore the injustice that goes on every day in HRM. What about the man who pulled a knife on the owners of another dog that his own dog attacked? What about the dog that killed a kitten? What about the parking lot used for dogs at Homeward Bound?
You have nothing to say about them - is that a coincidence, or explained by your sick obsession? We know the answer.
And the funny thing is that you actually believe that your opinion matters!!! It might have once, but changing your mind so often tends to wipe it all out...
ReplyDeleteForgot to add - what makes you think Francesca was talking about you in her tweet about nutcases? We didn't see your name mentioned... must have hit a nerve.
ReplyDeleteNnobody Important - if I would be so shocked about you actually all are - then reveal yourselves to the world instead of hiding behind your cowardly nom de plume. Until then - shut your mouth.
ReplyDeleteI suppose you think that your bullying comments today are having some effect on me, but the truth is that they are not - and some answers to your silliness are that the reason I'm involved is that Francesca herself drew me into this drama because she called me 2 days after Brindi was seized asking for my help - otherwise I would love not to be involved - and when I proved to be a person that couldn't be controlled - she showed her true colours, and since then this blog has been pretty much the only place on the whole internet that's been telling the true story of the "Brindi drama" - and that's why you all have been working so hard to shut me down.
I show up in court to make sure that there's someone there who will see what's really going on - not because I'm "obsessed" with Francesca - she wishes! I just want to make sure that the truth gets documented. It's as simple as that. Sorry if that doesn't fit in with your storyline.
And the "tweet" I'm referring to when you, Francesca call me a nutcase is - "I'm scared to death about Brindi, only hours to go, yet a certain nutcase still obsessively attacks me, even for a badly needed retreat!"
If you perceive that more than me is attacking you for going on your weekend retreat - then I think it's YOU who has a nerve that got hit by me.
And I've had this blog since 2004 - it has 1,645 posts on it - if I was looking for people's approval when I made that many posts - I'd have a pretty small brain by now. I write this blog purely for my own vain enjoyment. That's ultimately what all blogs are for - vanity, and nothing else - this blog will continue on if no one reads it - and once April 30th happens - which happens to be my birthday - this blog will continue on - very happily - without Brindi. We will reach up to the heavens and thank dog that we don't have to deal with you anymore.
I think that you may even get a present in the mail in honour of April 30th. I think I may even sew it myself, because I've sewed quite a few of them in the past for my own dogs. Can you guess what it will be? I'll send it express post. Hopefully you'll use it. Should I tell you or should it be a surprise.
Okay, I'll tell you.
A leash.
And it'll have my sticker on it that I like to put on stuff I've made - dogkisser.ca - so that everyone will know where it came from.
If you just use that leash that I mail to you - all your future will be okay with Brindi. That's all you needed to do in the past and we would not be having this conversation now - that is the sad, sad truth - and one that you will deny until the day you die because you say it's everyone's fault but your own.
Good luck to you and good bye.
Wow. With every post you confirm what a nutcase you really are.
ReplyDeleteAwesome last words, Joan. Yep, buttering you up again, me little butt kisser me!
ReplyDelete