What would YOU do with your lifetime of experience?

Imagine that you had an eccentric love for old wooden rocking chairs. You knew what all the many and varied styles there were - and there's a ton of them - windsor, shaker, adirondack, empire, canadian - the list is endless. You can spend countless hours lovingly restoring chairs that you've found in other people's garbage and at yard sales.

People think you're crazy for wasting all that time and money on those stupid things - but you see the innate beauty in them. Each one is special and says something to you, and you've never regretted a moment, or a penny that that's gone to them.

You'll even admit that some of the chairs in your collection have come from people's backyards. They were just rotting away back there - so obviously the people didn't want them, right? So what if they were somebody else's property. The people probably didn't even notice they were gone - and if they did, they were most likely happy to see the garbage gone. It's kind of embarrassing to have garbage laying around in your backyard anyway - it brings down the neighbourhood.

Now imagine for a second that instead of a rocking chair - what is in that same back yard - is a dying dog. It's still property. There's no difference in the eyes of the law between a rotting rocking chair and a dying dog. You can be arrested for both.

This week - Tammy Grimes, founder of the multi-nation organization - Dogs Deserve Better - an anti-chaining group - was arrested in Altoona Pennsylvania - because she received a call about a dog that was dying in someone's backyard. He had been chained there his whole life - abandoned there, and he was dying. And could she please save this dog. And Tammy did something. She saved him. And she was arrested by the local law enforcement.

Previous to her arrival the local Humane Society had been called several times, the dog's owner had been pleaded with to take proper care of the dog - all the proper avenues had been walked - and still the dog lay dying in that back yard.

His name is Doogie. And it's his picture at the top of this post - with Tammy Grimes. It was Doogie's human neighbour who called Tammy for help. She couldn't stand it any longer after trying everything else she could think of - and she called the one person that she thought would not walk away from this dog. Who would realize that this is an actual living, breathing being. Which Doogie is - who deserves to at least have - hopefully - a few days, or weeks - of unconditional, indoor love.

So Tammy did the thing that she knew was going to have the worst consequences for herself - and the best result for Doogie. She picked him up off the ground he was dying on - and she took him to a veterinarian - perhaps for the first time in his life - and saved him.

We have ALL walked by too many things in our life that we later wished we'd have saved. We regret our non-action. There are some people in this world who have done that one too many times and have decided that they will do that no longer. Tammy Grimes is one of those people.

I have been in awe of her for several years now and I continue to be. Her actions this week with Doogie are heroic and she should be treated as a saviour - not as a villain.

Doogie is NOT a rocking chair. He is NOT a piece of property. He is a living, breathing sentient being that was abandoned and tethered in a mud pit and left to die. He was suffering, and now he's not. Thanks to Tammy. Thank-you Tammy!

You can view video of Doogie before Tammy rescued him at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN9t1rv4pj4 - the crying you hear in the background is the neighbour that called Tammy

You can view video of Doogie after Tammy took him to her house - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8wxGP1N7QQ

A page for updates is on the DDB site at http://www.dogsdeservebetter.org/doogie.html

Her story is told on the Best Friends web page and on their law page

Teddy Bears and Fish

My fish tank is chock a block with babies. Baby platys and baby guppies. These pictures are of a mommy guppy who's giving birth in some java moss - you can just make out her head in the photo, and then another picture is her before she gave birth with her big tummy - very typical is the fact that directly behind her is a male guppy chasing her still trying to give her a poke! And then the other picture is of a platy baby - the little orange fish.









I also came across a very funny article today about a guard dog in England that gives proof to the idea that dogs should NOT guard things that they find DELECTABLE.


Dog destroys £40,000 Elvis teddy

Security guard Greg West does not know what made Barney do it

A £40,000 teddy which used to belong to Elvis Presley was among scores of toy bears destroyed when a dog meant to guard them went on the rampage. Dobermann Barney was looking after the rare Steiff bear, named Mabel, which had been loaned for an exhibition at Wookey Hole Caves near Wells, Somerset.

The dog ripped the head off the bear and attacked scores of other teddies.

Barney's owner could only suggest that the bear had a rogue scent on it - or that Barney had become jealous of it. The bear, made in Germany in 1909, was bought at auction in Memphis, Tennessee, by Somerset aristocrat Sir Benjamin Slade.

Heads pulled off, arms, legs here and there, it was a total carnage really Daniel Medley Wookey Hole Caves Wookey Hole general manager Daniel Medley told the BBC: "About 100 bears were caught up in this frenzied attack, some were merely little chews, whereas some of them had some quite devastating injuries.

"Heads pulled off, arms, legs here and there, it was a total carnage really. I've never seen such a mess, there was stuffing, fluff and bear bits everywhere."

'Model dog'

Barney also caused an estimated £20,000 damage to other bears in the collection. Other teddies worth about £20,000 were damaged Security guard Greg West, who was on duty at the time, is at a loss to explain what happened to make Barney go so "berserk".

Mr West, 36, of Totterdown, Bristol, said: "Barney has been a model guard dog for over six years. I still can't believe what happened.

"Either there was a rogue scent of some kind on Mabel which switched on Barney's deepest instincts, or it could have been jealousy - I was just stroking Mabel and saying what a nice little bear she was."

The attraction said Barney's future with them was "uncertain".

Responses to Last Week's Lisa Murphy Letter

There were some comments to last week's letter of Lisa Murphy about the "free to good home" letter in the Chronicle Herald that I feel I have to comment on. I'm pretty sure that Lisa would want me to comment on them - even though I will say right here that these are MY opinions only and the thoughts of no one's but my own. I don't speak for the Nova Scotia SPCA or anyone else. I am just a private citizen - but I am pretty sure that I am right! haha! And that Lisa would agree with me! So here we go...

Unfortunately the SPCA isn't much better. Instead of spending much needed money on spay/neuter program they spend thousands of dollars on a single dog to send it to PEI. Pathetic. Prevention would be better.
A real animal lover

When this comment came in, I wanted to chew on nails. Especially the last line. When people say shit like that, that always gets my goat. "Everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others." That person saying that makes their previous comment make more sense, don't you think? "A real animal lover" Obviously an animal lover of only perfect animals, though. But I digress. The 2 pictures below are of a boxer that was left for dead on the side of a road - Nellie - who was fostered by a good friend of mine - Lisa who owns Delta and Oscar who you see every once and a while on this blog, was a beneficiary of some of those "thousands of dollars" that are "wasted on a single dog".

Those "thousands of dollars" come from a fabulous thing set up by the Nova Scotia SPCA called the "Cinderella fund" - it's a completely separate chunk of money - and fundraising is also done separately - so it's not taking any money at all from spaying and neutering - all it's doing is saving the lives of dogs like Nellie, and other very worthwhile animals.

Look at the first picture of Nellie. She's very close to dead. Look at the second picture. She's very much alive. The Cinderella fund, Lee Anne Tibbo, the Dartmouth Veterinary Hospital, Lisa Davis, Lisa Murphy - who spearheaded the Cinderella fund - and countless other people helped that "one" animal. And I think it was worth it.

All life is precious. I can only hope that someone would do it for one of my animals if they needed it. Wouldn't you hope that they'd do it for one of yours if they found it abandoned on the side of the road?

Sinden Birthday Party and Shelburne, Nova Scotia

Yesterday was a no-dog day down in Shelburne. The things you have to do for your family, eh? It was 3 birthdays in one. Shelburne is a lovely little town down at the left hand tip of Nova Scotia, almost as picturesque as the part of Nova Scotia as I live in. Well, since I was there yesterday - it became as picturesque as the part of Nova Scotia that I live in! haha! In fact, I think that there's been world famous photographers who love that part of the province. It ranks right up there.

I didn't take pictures of them - but I got TWO lovely buoys from right in front of my brother's house - of which the pictures below were taken. What a haul. It was a banner day. I also put a web album on line at http://sinden.ca/sindenbirthdayparty/index.html of the day's festivities from my friends and family. The pictures turned out pretty good since I'm not in any of them. I hope you will indulge me since they also don't have any dogs in them.

This is what a nice house and yard look like.
A true party animal

Shelburne harbour from outside my brother's house. Buoy booty Central

The REAL Reason Condoleezza Rice is coming to Halifax and Nova Scotia on September 11th

Is it because she is having a clandestine affair with Foreign Affairs Minister Peter McKay? (I don't think so, somehow).

I think it's because she realizes that Nova Scotia is the safest and most beautiful place on earth - as I've said before - it's shangri-la here. And she's proving it to the world by coming here on such an auspicious and life altering date. Why would she come here on a date that is so important to Americans? Why wouldn't she go to New York City? Or show good faith and go to a Muslim country? Instead - because there's so much turmoil, unrest and chance of terrorism on this coming September 11th - she's going to come to a place in the world least likely to have anything happen. Shangri-la. Nova Scotia. The place where I took these pictures tonight at Conrad's beach.

Bravo to Lisa Murphy!

This picture appeared in the August 31st edition of the Halifax Chronicle Herald on the front page of the Mail Star section. The caption below it read - "Zachary Moncion, 6, holds one of two remaining kittens he and his family wanted to give up for adoption, outside their Brunswick Street home in Halifax on Wednesday. Zachary said he gave away one of the little felines quickly but the other two might be more difficult to place because they were less friendly and didn't like to be held much."

I'm sure that just about every animal lover's jaw in the whole of the Halifax Regional Municipality's jaw dropped to the floor as they were eating their toast and crumpets that morning. Ugh! This is 2006 - not 1956! Normally I'd have headed straight to the computer to write my patented letters to the editor - but I'm a dog person and I really try to stick to my one subject - I think that's why I have such a high percentage of letters that get published - so I didn't write in - but I hoped someone else WOULD. And lo-and-behold - someone at the very top of the animal rescue food chain (philosophically speaking) did! Lisa Murphy - who is the President of the Nova Scotia SPCA wrote a super perfect letter - and here it is:

Bravo on a SUPER Job!

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Letters/526746.html

'Free to good home' not responsible

By LISA J. MURPHY

A really cute kid shilling "free" kittens in a wagon. Great photo-op,
yes (Aug. 31)? The Nova Scotia SPCA says no.

The phrase "Free to good home" (FTGH) sounds like fingernails on a
chalkboard to animal welfare workers. "Free" is too often seen as
"worthless" in the eye of the beholder.

Though many people have good intentions when they advertise a cat or
dog as FTGH, this is how some people will see that "freebie":

FREE bait to train fighting dogs;

FREE snake food;

FREE to live in a cage and produce litters and litters of kittens to
sell for profit;

FREE money from the research lab (yes, this still happens in Canada);

FREE torture victim;

FREE animal No.135 that the "collector" can't afford to care for.

Don't kid yourselves: This happens daily right in our own province.
The little boy in the photo cannot be expected to think of these scary
things, but shame on Mom or Dad for sending him out to "get rid of"
these kittens to anybody who wants one. What does that teach him about
responsible pet ownership? What does that show him about the value of
living creatures in this world?

There is a lesson in commitment to be taught here, about the
commitment of caring for an animal whose life depends completely on
us. It takes effort, patience and persistence to find the right homes
for unwanted animals, and they have no one but us to look out for
their best interests.

In 1943, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote (in the The Little Prince),
"You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed." FTGH is
not responsible. Failing to prevent unwanted litters by neglecting to
alter your pet is not responsible.

We can only hope that the mother cat is now spayed. If she isn't,
please give us a call before the wagon is full again.

Lisa J. Murphy is president, Nova Scotia SPCA.

I'm happy to say that I know her a little bit! haha!

Last Week Daisy Helped Teddy and Herself

It's interesting how all of the sudden one dog will stand in the middle of a room and demand to have attention paid to them.

Maggie Carruthers - who is the animal communicator who graciously comes to my house from time to time to help me with my dogs and their ongoing issues - has never really worked with Daisy in all the time I've had her. Daisy just hasn't been interested in talking. She's got a lot of love to give, and her joy of life is limitless, but it's always been pretty obvious that she's convinced that her cushy life is going to end at any moment.

Her first 3 years of life were tied to a dog house on a native reservation in Cape Breton and at the end of she was left to starve to death as she gave birth to a litter of puppies and for some reason she's never been able to let go of it. But last week when Maggie came over she plunked herself down in the middle of the stuff we were doing - which was supposed to be making some pillow type things for Buttercup and Teddy to lay on that was going to give them energy to further work on their own personal issues when we weren't around - and Daisy decided that she was going to not only help with what we were doing - but she was also going to release some of the stuff she'd been holding in.

So it was a great evening all around.

For some reason it's taken me a whole week to get back and look at the pictures. I have no reason why. But here they are. Daisy is a such a special girl.

Dog Legislation Council of Canada AGM

I was super privileged to go the first ever annual general meeting of the Dog Legislation Council of Canada yesterday in Dartmouth. It was held at the end of the Halifax Kennel Club weekend since several members of the Council were in town for that and several other members just happen to live here.


Unfortunately not enough members were present to have a quorum - but lots of interesting stuff was talked about none-the-less. Needless to say, I pretty much kept my mouth s-h-u-t. I only opened my mouth to stuff in as much of the free food as I could fit into my body in the time allotted. I did however sneak in a couple of pictures - mostly however of the dogs present - because that's what I care about - haha!

Suffice it to say that the DLCC has been, and will continue to be the most important organization in this country of ours (that being CANADA) that is keeping us all in the know and at the forefront as a base of knowledge of all things anti-BSL, and as a first responder when a community starts to make noises that they are thinking about passing legislation that smacks of BSL. The DLCC will be there with bells on to give solid, lucid, concrete, irrefutable, information that will knock the socks off of any government organization thinking of passing any kind of back-water, 19th century legislation. Guaranteed. IMHO of course...

Before we left for the meeting Pickle the english bull terrier and Ursa the rottweiller had to show us just how fierce and dangerous they are! Pickle likes to suck on all the dog's ears and stick her snout in all the dog's mouths. This is how her sister Ursa reacts. With the widest of rottweiller smiles - she can ALMOST fit Pickle's face in her mouth!

Harry the golden retriever also wanted to let us all know that it's not about pit bulls and rottweillers - it's also about him - because breed banning is about RESPECT for ALL dogs. Harry is staying with Ursa and Pickle at the moment.

A long shot of some of the humans at the AGM meeting...

You got any of that steak I've been smelling?

You must have some steak, eh?

I am never going to get me any of that steak!

Yeah, I just had some steak, and man, it was good...I heard it came from an organic farmer up in Bible Hill! It was worth it too!
There was a big bonfire at the after-dinner festivities - I didn't know they got it started with this bottle of Hennessy though! haha!

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The Blue Sky at Crystal Crescent Today

Today I felt the very strong need to take off several layers of clothes off and go to the beach - so as soon as I got off work I piled the dogs into the car and off we went. Blue sky is going to be the "theme" for my first movie - so I'm going to need lots of pictures of the dogs against blue sky anyway - so I can peg it all to that. The waves were good too, so I got lots of good comforting sound effects while I was there. It was very relaxing. And I only fell down once. I'm pretty sure the dogs enjoyed themselves too.






Some very cute pictures of Teddy:

Watch out World!

I have JUST figured out how to make MOVIES on my new computer. So prepare yourself for some VERY schlocky tear jerky, and funny things to be showing up on You-Tube in the very near future.... oh boy.... I am very excited.... after I get rid of the headache that I have today....

Little Ms Money Bags & a Very Cute Whisy

I forgot to mention the crap I bought yesterday at the Kennel club show. Dad, just skip down to the next post please! Everything went to a good cause though - so it was money well spent, right? The t-shirt and book were both from the Dog Legislation Council of Canada who needs to raise about $400,000 for the legal challenge in Ontario. I really wanted a pink t-shirt with the DLCC logo on it, but they only had those in 2-XL and I would've floated away in that. So I had to satisfy myself with this "BSL Stinks" t-shirt. I like my jingle better - I used it last year for the pit bull vigil we had here in Halifax on August 27th - "BSL stinks worse than poo!" I made a bandana for Charlie to wear to the Vigil that said that. But "BSL Stinks" is what I bought yesterday. I also bought the getting very famous book "Dogs Bite But Balloons and Slippers are More Dangerous" - I'm very much looking forward to reading it.

I also bought one of those latex bracelets from the English Springer Spaniel Rescue table - and they've appropriated the logo of "Rescue, rehabilitate, rehome" - which is a super tag line. And I love the white on black - so appropriate for springers! They were one of the specialties for this weekend.

And then lastly I bought a Nova Scotia tartan bow tie for Teddy. Won't that look fabulous on him? It will be TOO cute!

These are a couple pictures of Whisky out on the deck this afternoon. Is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen? It's like he's saying - "don't bother me - I'm trying to nap!" He's getting to be a really old codger! Still the best mouser in the house though!

Halifax Kennel Club Show is this Weekend!

It is so tiring having a busy social calendar! The Halifax Kennel Club is having their fall show and trials. This weekend is the English Springer Spaniel Specialty and I think Italian Greyhounds as well because the building was just chock-a-block with both of those breeds. I didn't think the province had as many italian greyhounds as many as were in the Exhibition Park building today. There was a lot of agitated little dogs with their tails tucked in today, let me tell you! haha.

But I am very tired tonight - the dogs of course are not, becaues only dogs entered in competition are allowed to be in the building - so they all had to stay at home. And that's all I'll say about that...

Janet Chernin's Oreo got to compete for the first time in her life in the senior's category - at 13 years old. It was a great injustice that she didn't place at all - for the first time in her life she didn't win something! But I am quite sure she was the crowd favourite.

Below are a couple pictures from the day and a picture of the table I was at - I went and sold my dehydrated liver at the Metro Dog Wash table - the lady who owns that store sells my liver at her store - so she let me sit at her table and sell my liver. I didn't sell too much because I spent most of the day away schmoozing. There was just too many people there that I knew and too much going on. I am the WORST business person in the world. Ever. No doubt about it. I had a good time though. And $35 will be going to the Dog Legislation Council of Canada because I said that for every bag of liver I sold today I was giving $1 to them - so it wasn't all bad!

The show continues Sunday and Monday - but I only went for today - the dogs would be crazy mad at me if I left them alone for 2 more days. And I'd have horrible separation anxiety if I had to leave them too!



The Senior's class all standing in a row

This was my table - a black lab was sniffing my liver very intensely here!
I had to take a picture of these neat things - these are magnetic decals like what you put on your car - like the "I love my rottweiller" or "I love my greyhound" - except they're personalized! The rescue group Animal Rescue Coalition sells them - they're $10.00 each and you just email them the picture and the name of your dog and they have them made. Isn't that neat? I thought they were awesome! You can email arc@seabright.ca to order them. And all the proceeds of course go to their animal rescue!

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