Fil, the king of Seaview Park

After Hurricane Juan hit - I used to go to Seaview Park every day - and I mean we went every day without fail - and there were a group of other people who also went there every day at the same time - 6pm

Among that group was a family named Cathy and her husband Frank and their dogs Fil and Buddy - and Fil was the undenied king of Seaview.

He was a majestic german shepherd that Cathy and Frank had rescued from a desperate situation and turned into a beautiful dog, and he initiated each new dog that joined the "6'oclock clique"

Really, when I got the email this morning that he had died - I couldn't believe that he'd lived to be this old - so Frank and Cathy took wonderful care of Fil, and he had a wonderful life after they rescued him. He was a lucky dog, a beautiful dog - and a wonderful specimen of his breed.

I'm sure it's going to take a long time to get over Fil - and there will never be another dog like Fil who will take his place at Seaview Park - he was a once in a lifetime dog at that park - the people who go there will miss him forever. He was an awesome dog.

This is where I took some picture of really pretty flowers last summer

Taken at QEII Health Sciences Centre, Halifax Infirmary

Oh no they did-nt - the name of Celtic Pets is invoked

Aarrgghh don't let that puppy actually touch me!

If you've been following along with the stories coming out of the Cape Breton Post and Chronicle Herald - there's lots of juicy stuff to read - but today was perhaps the juiciest -the names of Celtic Pets, and Pam Keddy have been invoked in relation to the newest scandal to hit Cape Breton rescue.

In my previous post I purposely chose to stay away from the Celtic Pets debacle on purpose because I didn't want to bring up that horror again - but this story is all related.

How could the Provincial Board at the time let such abuse continue on for such a lengthh of time at Celtic Pets like they let the horror continue on at the Cape Breton SPCA? How is the horror going on at the Cape Breton SPCA any different than the horror at Celtic Pets?

The people running the organizations and the old crony system. That's how. The name of Pam Keddy was mentioned in the article, but there were a few others who let the abuuse continue - at both places.

And I have to say also that the abuser Zonda MacIsaac said she kept her dogs at her facility because she was trying to keep them out of the hands of the Cape Breton SPCA where she knew they'd be killed automatically - so the CBSPCA has a heavy hand in what happened on West Bay Road.

There have been new developments in the story - supposedly Patsy Rose has stepped down into an "administrative position" and Mel Neville has left as head of the Board - but all the other board members are still there - at the "Cape Breton Humane Society" - and now they want to work with the Provincial Board of the SPCA so that dogs can be transported out and an amenable solution worked out.

It doesn't say anything about them improving the condition of the animals currently in their care or anything good like that. No promises like that.

I have a question though - if the animals are being held inhumanely and abuse is happening - why aren't the staff being charged with cruelty to aninals?

Kristin Williams says it's because the abuse has to be viewed happening in order for charges to be laid - but if a dog is viewed lying in it's own filth with sores on it's body from laying in that condition for days at a time - I would consider that abuse.

A dog at the Cape Breton Human Society (who isn't necessarily being abused)
Or if a dog was in the shelter with untreated mange and it'd been there a couple weeks - I'd consider that abuse. Staff should know better. But that's just me, maybe. Maybe that's just negligence - but not willful negligence - only intense stupidity.

So maybe the Provincial board will get their building back in the end - and it seems it's due to the vet intervention that happened a couple days ago where they backed up everything Provincial had been saying - and the Mayor is also on Provincial's side.

But if he is - he should immediately suspend the Cape Breton Humane Society's Pound contract - effectively drying up their inntake of animals.

The Provincial SPCA has set up a new branch for the Cape Breton area and is basing it on a foster system like in other areas of Nova scotia such as Antigonish and Windsor (I think) where they don't have physical buildings.

They don't need a building to have an SPCA - they just need to get the word out to not take animals to the CBHS - and when they have no animals coming in - they won't be anything they can be inhumane too - that would be the best case scenario as far as I'm concerned. Dry up their supply and they'll have to shut down.

Here's some articles from the Cape Breton Post -

Here's a letter from Sydney Mayor John Morgan with a link to the shelter veterinary audit - http://www.thecapebretoner.ca/?p=12795

Shelter saga continues

Humane Society Has new Leadership

Council asks animal shelter board to address problems in veterinarians’ report

New building not in humane society budget

Vets issue 27 recommendations for animal shelter

Nova Scotia SPCA dissolves local branch

Boards fighting tooth and claw for control of SPCA

Noon deadline looms for SPCA

CBRM mayor wants independent party to sort out conflicting SPCA claims

Provincial SPCA issues letter of demand for local SPCA board to vacate

Cape Breton SPCA manager says she feels betrayed

Cape Breton SPCA locks out provincial board, public

Helter-skelter at animal shelter

My handsome man soaking wet

Taken at Long Lake Provincial Park

Of dead dogs and mourning and those that need it

A dog named Nells died today - I took this picture of her back in 2005 at a vigil that we had the day before bsl took effect up in Ontario with her sister Smudge.

This is what her Mom sais about her passing - "There is a new star in dancing across the universe tonight.. Ms. Nells has crossed over. Amongst our sadness we are celebrating all she brought to our lives and so many other lives... please join us in celebrating her life..and look at the sky tonight as her star dances for us all.. as always.. she will never leave us.. her spirit will be in our hearts forever."

Her Mom doesn't want us to mourn Nells too much, she thinks Nells had a good life, she went peacefully, and it was her time to go.

And it got me thinking about mourning dogs in general - and how I mourned Charlie and Daisy - and some thought I mourned them too much - and I still do mourn them now.

My Dad doesn't think I mourned them too much - he says he still mourns his childhood dog Bob who died when he was 8 who was hit by a car and they had to shoot to kill him to end his suffering - he can see it all in his mind as clear as day as if it was yesterday and it still brings tears to his eyes - and my Dad is 82.

And it's gotten me to thinking about the dogs currently inside the building at the Cape Breton SPCA and what is going on inside there.

I have to tell the truth and say I haven't been following the blow by blow because my Dad is currently pretty sick so I haven't been on the computer very much - but there have been press releases and I've read granny's blog - and the provincial SPCA has given us a centralized site to go to, to keep up with what's going on from their viewpoint - from the other side - I don't think there's any way to catch up - and that's the problem.

They're the ones in charge of the animals at the moment - and they seem to have a proclivity for killing animals - at least they have in the past - so I am currently worried, and mourning all the little ones who have become collatoral damage in this war over the Cape Breton SPCA.

They should have gotten out alive and had loving owners. The animals of the Cape Breton SPCA deserve better than what they've been dealt I think. And for them I am mourning tonight.

Nells never had to deal with any of the hell on earth that the dogs of the Cape Breton SPCA did - and for that she was blessed. No need to mourn on that account - but for the dogs of the SPCA who never got a chance - mourn for them, such a tragedy.

I hope things end soon, so animals can start being saved.

Cutest and cutester

Taken at Dogkisser international headquarters

Sleepytime for Buttercup

Taken at Dogkisser international headquarters

The Benoits lose their appeal in their 2007 puppy selling/assault case

The Digby Courier has reported that the Benoit's have lost their appeal of their 2007 case when they had puppies seized by the SPCA for being full of worms, and Gail Benoit assualted an SPCA Officer - for which she served 21 days in jail - the only time she's ever served time in jail for anything she's ever been found guilty of over the years.

Some of the interesting things the article says are -

Benoit and Bailey appealed under the right to earn a living and the right not to be subject to unreasonable searches, as stated in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Fichaud found both of those points groundless.

So it's okay to abuse animals as long as its part of doing your job I guess according to the Benoits. Gross.

Bailey and Benoit contested the fact that the puppies were in distress but Justice Fichaud made it clear that appeals can only be granted on points of law, not of fact.

“Further the evidence fully supports the facts set out earlier that the puppies were infested with parasites, with distress attendant on that condition.”

Bailey and Benoit’s counsel, Michael Power, pointed to veterinary testimony that all dogs have worms and suggested worms shouldn’t count in any consideration of distress. Fichaud looked at further veterinary testimony that “made it clear the mature parasitic load and consequent distress in these puppies far exceeded the common situation of embryonic roundworm, before a kennel begins immediate deworming.”

The Benoits didn't think the puppies were in distress - even though the evidence fully supported that they were fully infested with parasites. I wonder if all puppies sold by the Benoits are as closely monitored as those puppies were back in 2007 - or if they've learned their lessons since then on how to tell when a puppy has worms. I hope they have.

Judging by their appeal though, it might seem as though they haven't - so if you're buying a puppy from the Benoit's you might want to look at the tummies of the commodity you're buying from them (it's not puppies they sell, it's a commodity they sell after all) - because you may have to deal with things like worms - because obviously it's not something they worry about.

I'm just saying.

I'm glad to see that the justice system worked this time around.

Below is the article from the Digby Courier in case you can't read the jpg above.

Puppy sellers lose appeal

The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Gail Benoit and Dana Bailey.

The Roxville couple had appealed their 2009 convictions for animal cruelty and for assaulting a peace officer.

Justice Joel Fichaud heard the appeal in Halifax on Oct. 4, 2011 and handed down the dismissal one week later.

The couple were appealing their convictions handed down on January 29, 2009 in relation to events that happened in the fall of 2007.

The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals responded on Oct. 24, 2007 to a complaint about sick puppies at the couple’s residence. Because Bailey had not let the SPCA in during an earlier investigation, the SPCA officers came to the house with warrants for two puppies and accompanied by the RCMP.

During the investigation Benoit threw one of the puppies at the SPCA officer, cursed at her, stepped on her foot, and bumped her shoulder.

The officers had noticed another eight puppies in distress in the residence, obtained a further search warrant and returned on Oct. 26 for those sick animals. Examination by a veterinarian revealed the puppies were full of worms, extremely thin with distended bellies because the worms were getting all the nutrition. Other parasites were causing them severe diarrhea and cramping.

Judge Jean-Louis Batiot found the couple guilty in 2009 and issued them each a fine of $1,500 plus restitution. Benoit was sentenced to and has already served 21 days in jail for obstructing and assaulting a peace officer.

Justice Fichaud considered several points in his decision to dismiss the appeal.

Bailey and Benoit contested the fact that the puppies were in distress but Justice Fichaud made it clear that appeals can only be granted on points of law, not of fact.

“Further the evidence fully supports the facts set out earlier that the puppies were infested with parasites, with distress attendant on that condition.”

Bailey and Benoit’s counsel, Michael Power, pointed to veterinary testimony that all dogs have worms and suggested worms shouldn’t count in any consideration of distress. Fichaud looked at further veterinary testimony that “made it clear the mature parasitic load and consequent distress in these puppies far exceeded the common situation of embryonic roundworm, before a kennel begins immediate deworming.”

Bailey and Benoit also appealed on the grounds the puppies didn’t belong to them.

“The real question under the law,” reads the original Supreme Court decision. “is whether the appellants had de facto custody, possession and control of the puppies at the relevant time and place. The evidence is overwhelming that they did.” Justice Fichaud agreed with that decision.

Bailey and Benoit also appealed on the grounds that if the owner takes steps to relieve the distress there is no crime - Justice Fichaud found that Benoit and Bailey did not take such steps. They appealed on the grounds that the SPCA officers didn’t first give them notice or attempt to enlist their cooperation, which they say is called for under the Animal Cruelty Prevention Act. Justice Fichaud found that condition does no appear in the legislation.

Benoit and Bailey also appealed under the right to earn a living and the right not to be subject to unreasonable searches, as stated in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Fichaud found both of those points groundless.

Bubby has a fabulous time at Seaview

Bubby had a great time today at Seaview

He got to play for quite a while with this pug - they were a good match for each other

The mix this afternoon was pretty good so the playing was a lot of fun for everyone - those kinds of afternoon are always so joyful to watch, and hard to leave - although today seemed like about -20 celcius - so it wasn't that hard to leave! haha!

Everyone having fun

And more fun, yay!

This guy wasn't having too much fun - she kept throwing up, but eventually her owners did take her seriously and left. Poor little girlie. Bulldogs always look so sad, but when you look this sad and you're throwing up - that's really sad. I'm glad Bubby has a happy face.

Cape Breton SPCA

If the Provincial Board wanted to show that they are different from past Boards - they did so this week by dissolving the Cape Breton board of the SPCA.

The whole time I've been involved with rescue - almost 10 years now, people have always lamented - "what can we about the Cape Breton SPCA?"

Everyone knew what was going on down there, yet we were powerless to do anything about it. I remember being at a dinner party many years ago and asking the question to a member of the Provincial Board - "why can't you just fire everyone on the Board and in the shelter and get people in there who actually care about animals and care that they're adopting animals out with parvo, and that they're killing 90% of the animals that come in and they don't seem to care".

The answer I got back was - "well who are we going to replace them with? There's no one who can go down from Halifax to work down there and no one is willing to work there" - so it's the devil you know".

And it's been that way forever.

It's interesting that in this CBC article that Kristin Williams actually comes out and says that records were being falsified by the management of the Cape Breton branch - at past AGM's we all couldn't believe how the branch could go from killing 90% of the animals to being a no-kill shelter. That really amazed us - by doing nothing at all - they becamse no kill overnight.

Now we know how they did it.

We also know that nothing has really changed over the years - parvo is still rampant there - animals are being adopted out with parvo - I'm sure probably animals are dying in their own filth - which is what has happened in the past - nobody's applications were checked before animals were adopted out - you could just go plunk your $150 or however much it cost - and get a dog - things were always bad there.

It's amazing though - the quality of dogs that are in Cape Breton has always been phenomenal - cute little terrier types that are really nice dogs once you get them grooomed - the photo at the top of this post is a dog who made it out alive from the Cape Breton shelter a few years ago.

I am really amazed and proud that the Provincial branch did thiss. It took such balls to do it.

I never thought it would happen - the dissolution of the board of the Cape Breton branch. It has needed to happen for years. The culture down in Cape Breton is different than it is up here in the "big city" for some reason though, and it's going to be a tough sale for the Provincial branch - but I think that they are proving over and over that they are strong and tough enough to do the job.

Too many beautiful animals have died at the Cape Breton SPCA. I have too many posts on this blog to point to any in particular - except maybe an article from 2008 about weird shelter stats and also the story of Po/Henry - a dog who did make it out alive.

It's taken 3 years for the "new regime" to do something about Cape Breton - I'm glad they've finally done it. It'll be interesting what they find when they start digging around. It's going to get very nasty in Cape Breton in the next little wild - I'd love to be a fly on those walls, that's for sure.

ps - you can just click on any one of these articles and they will open up in a new window and you can read them - click your back button to come back to this blog post.

Here's a new article on Saturday November 19th -where they outlines actual discrepancies at the shelter - where kittens were half eaten and junk like that. It was pretty bad there as it turns out.

Horseshoe island on the way home

Taken at Horseshoe Island

Some cute photos from the weekend

Today we went to Long Lake Provincial Park and the dogs had a fabulous time - it was a beautiful day out. I hope all winter stays like this - that would be great.

The dogs of course found every mud puddle that they could - which is lovely for white dogs - Bubby especially likes to come home as black as possible - I don't know what it is about white dogs and mud. Bubby must just like to take baths when he gets home I guess.

Yesterday I got some nice shots of the dogs in the living room.

They had an extended wrestling match in the living room - I don't know how Buttercup can last so long - she can seem to go forever some days - at 17 she is in beautiful shape.

Bubby's very gentle with her though, so we're both lucky for that - they have such a good time - we're all so lucky to have each other.

Untitled

Taken at Dogkisser international headquarters

Happy 1 Year Birthday To Bubby

Today is Bubby`s one year birthday - one year ago today he was born in his puppy mill in Cape Breton where he lived for the first 6 months of his life.

I`m not sure what his life was like there - but I`m pretty sure it was very much less than ideal based on his quirks that he had when he came to live with me.

He`s been here for 5 months now, and he still has a lot of the quirks that he came here with - but I wouldn`t give him up for the world - Buttercup is deeply in love with him and my Dad lives and breathes for him.

He is a gentle, playful, gregarious, monkey who has to be peeled from the ceiling most days and he`s the best little boy in the world. We have his whole life to work out his little problems and he`s smart enough that he`ll be able to figure them out.

Happy birthday to a great little dog. Once again, I am the luckiest person in the world.

The last of the Celtic Pets Generation are disappearing - RottnMom's Sasha

Sometimes you meet the best people under the worst circumstances - and that's how I met a lot of people around the Celtic Pets tragedy - one of them was a lady named Janet Patterson.

I've never met her in person, or her dog Sasha - but I know the strength of her character and the love she had for her dog Sasha, and what she was willing to put up with, and how loud she was willing to speak out when she saw what was happening around the Celtic Pets situation - and her dog was a dog from the Celtic Pets kennel - so she knew the damage that was being done to the dogs there.

Her name was Sasha. She was a beautiful rottweiller mix and she made it all the way to 12 - and this past weekend she went to meet up with Charlie and Daisy - and Daisy as many of you know also came from Celtic Pets.

Janet had to work very hard for many months to show Sasha that life wasn't like what had happened to her behind the walls of West Bay Road in Cape Breton - but eventually, through tons of love Sasha came around and stopped being aggressive to everything she came across and blossomed into the dog she was meant to be and not the dog the the abusers MacIsaac had turned her into.

It is a sad commentary that dogs live such short lives - but I know for sure that Janet aka rottnmom packed many lifetimes into Sasha's life to make up for what the abusers MacIsaac did to her - and for that - we're all thankful and grateful that she did such a wonderful job with her.

I'm sure Sasha is thankful and grateful and left the earth contented, knowing that she had had the best years in the best home.

Thank you Janet from Sasha - and Daisy, and Zeus, and all the other victims of the abusers MacIsaac and those who lived and died on West bay Road.

Buttercup is a cock-a-poo!

I finally went and had Buttercup's DNA done (At DNA my Dog) - and I got the results back - she's a cock-a-poo!

I always thought she was a bichon poodle mix - but it turns out she's got no bichon in her whatsoever.

The report thinks one of her parents was a purebred poodle, and one of her parents was a cocker spaniel - so probably the other grand parent was also a poodle - making a cock-a-poo - and making Buttercup - 1/2 poodle and 1/2 cock-a-poo!

I guess that's where her slightly beige colour comes from. I guess that explains her slight viciousness, because cocker spaniels were bred as hunting dogs - and Buttercup can be quite the little pill when it comes to protecting me at the dog parks - and if you look at her teeth, they're huge compared to Bubby's.

DNA is so interesting.

She also has about 5% Australian shepherd in there too.

So I no longer have a set of twins, even though they look like it.

I've got a poo and a bichon.  Oh well.  They're still the most gorgeous dogs in the world.

Today I thinking about my in a lifetime dog and I am feeling sad that he's gone

Taken at Dogkisser international headquarters

Elderdog.ca and Banfield Charitable Trust

A little while ago I met a lovely lady at Seaview Park who is the head of an organization called Elderdog.ca - an organization that works to keep senior people and their senior pets in their home for as long as possible.

I thought that is such an awesome initiative.

I see everyday the effects that elderly dogs have on an elderly person because I have my 17 year old dog Buttercup living with me and I also have my 82 year old father living with me - and the relationship they have is really special. If they didn't have each other both of their worlds would be very poverty stricken - especially my Dad's - he's home with my dogs' every day, and I'd say some days it's the thing that keeps him going.

Banfield Charitable Trust looks like it's an American organization that is raising money to help feed animals who's owners can't afford to feed them - especially seniors - which sounds goood to me - they have a website and a facebook page to check out, and they currently have a national pet food drive going on to feed hungry pets going on with Pedigree and Royal Canin on their Facebook page - "For every new like we receive on their Facebook page in November and December, PEDIGREE® Brand and Royal Canin® will donate a pound of pet food. Their pet food drive program is unique in its collaboration with a network of local partners to ensure strategic and effective distribution of donations to some of the most vulnerable pet owners. They will work with local partners across the country to distribute the donations in 2012, as well as make pet food grants to nonprofits like Meals on Wheels to purchase food when the food drive donations have run out. "

That sounds like a win-win situation to me and worth noting.

So check out Elderdog.ca and Banfield Charitable Trust - old dogs and old people need to stay together. It's a good thing.

Googling

Have you ever googled your name?

I used to think that one of the best things about the internet was that if there was something that you wanted the world to know - you could write about it and there it would be on the internet - forever. Whenever anyone did a search on that subject - there your article would be - for better or for worse, and no one had any control of it.

I thought that was a good thing. It started out with Peter Duffy and pit bull type dogs. He really disliked them.

He was a columnist at the Chronicle Herald, and everytime he wrote something really misinformed and ugly about them, I'd write in a letter to the editor and post what he'd said in his original column on his own page on my Charlie loves Halifax site with the heading "Peter Duffy hates dogs" - wanting to let the world know that Peter Duffy needed to be educated about dogs, and at the same time - in my mind, trying to show Peter Duffy that there was a different way to think about that breed of dogs.

And it was all on the internet and there was nothing Peter Duffy could do about it.

And I thought that was fabulous.

That was power (ful).

I've googled myself and there's some pretty distasteful and untrue stuff out there meant to try and hurt me because individuals and groups have disagreed with what I've written on this blog - and it hasn't fizzed me at all. I don't take it personally because I realize it's a by-product of writing about the subject that I do.

It never occurred to me though that there would be ramificiations for people that I write about on this blog - other than hurt feelings and lost friendships.

Should I feel bad that bad things happen to bad people because of my blog? That people find out about puppy millers or brokers, or shady dealers?

Some may call it bullying, but I have always been careful to only say things that can be verified and are truthful.

I do have a high degree of empathy though - so I do go through the blog - and if something was written years ago that doesn't really apply anymore and was written in aide of people I'm not friends with anymore - I don't have a problem with removing those tyes of posts -it's old dead history, and the world has moved on. Which it has. Old boring stories need to be deleted from time to time, which I don't mind doing.

Gooogle your name, sometimes it's interesting to see what comes up maybe one or two hits will be in this blog - that would be neat - - hopefully they'll be positiive stories!