A Wagging Good Time for Stitchers

So I was just watching The Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic channel. It was the story of a pack of four French Bulldogs and one woman. The dogs were big time vacuum attackers. It got my thinking about how great Bonny is. Ok, confession time, when Bonny was a baby I used the vacuum kind of as a toy. I would laugh with her while I tried to get her with the sucking end. I didn’t want her to be afraid of it like many dogs are. Well three years later, she is not afraid; she wants to get it. And she is a triumph to good leadership. When I take out the vacuum she usually jumps at it once, ONCE, to inditate she wants to play. I say no and she lays down where she can watch me. When I have finished, I say ok and we play a few minutes of vacuum monster. She wants to get the vacuum the whole time but waits till I tell her to start and stops right away at my command. My only wish is that she would listen to all the people she knows as well as she listens to me.

Here’s a cute story I recieved from the AHR board.  It really makes you wonder: How can these two animals that are so different form such a tight bond? Social oddities like these serve to remind that there really are no rules about what an animal can and cannot do; there is no limitation on the uniques of nature.

Here are some photographs from the Sports Illustrated website of a few of the dogs rescued from Michael Vick’s property that were lucky enough to be place in family homes. These dog certainly do a lot to prove that there are no bad dogs, only bad dog owners.

It has been a sad week for Almost Home Rescue.  The board decided after a year of struggles to put down one of our foster dogs.  Bella lived with one foster family for a year.  She was a difficult case to begin with, slightly dog aggressive, slightly food agressive.  Over the year she got worse and lashed out a few times at people and other dogs.  If the liability wasn’t enough to indicate it was time for Bella to move on, a dog living that way is stressed and unhappy all the time.  That’s not the life we aim to give our fosters dogs, so Bella moved on to a better place.  I applaud everyone from AHR who did their best to help this little dog and those who had to make this difficult decision for her.  Hopefully, she is happy and peaceful where she is now.

Today, President-Elect Obama selected former Iowa govenor Tom Vilsack for the position of Secretary of Agriculture.  This position has a significant impact of animal welfare and legislation in this country and Vilsack was one of Humane Society’s top choices for the seat.  Some may remember him for his brief run at the Democratic Presidential nomination.  He dropped out after three months, just about the time that Obama announced his run. According to this article from the New York Times, Vilsack’s primary focus will be on increased production of biofuels and other natural forms of sustainable energy.  Last year, as govenor, Vilsack vetoed a bill allowing hunting of mourning doves.

The Humane Society of the United States has started a campaign urging President-Elect Obama to appoint animal friendly politicians to his cabinet. The positions of Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Agriculture are important to animal welfare, both wild-life and domesticated. There is on online form to send to Obama endorsing and opposing for each position. The HSUS endorses John Boyd Jr. and Tom Vilsack for Agriculture and Raul Grijalva, Jay Inslee, and David Hayes for Interior. The link to this form is here. If you don’t agree with HSUS’s choices there is space to type your own message. Please send you voice to the president elect and help make the new administration animal friendly.

I will be at an adoption event on Sunday November 16th for Almost Home Rescue. The event will be at Pet Quarters in Newington NH. The address is 45 Gosling Rd. I will be there from 10am to 3pm. We will be raffling off some gift baskets and getting the word about our organization out. Swing by if you’re in the area.

Addie was seen today by a teenager in Middleboro MA. This is the first sighting in five days. She is 4.4 miles from where she started according to Google Maps. Her family set up the trap nearby and a neighbor agreed to check it in the morning. Last Tuesday she was seen running across Route 24. This is a six lane highway. The woman who saw her said she ran across three lanes, was stopped by the concrete barrier, and ran back across the three lanes. I was getting very upset that no one had seen her after this. Hopefully she’s in the Have-a-Heart trap right now.

PetSmart Charities offers some free webinar classes. Registration is also free. I haven’t attended one yet myself but hope to in the future. The times in November conflict with my schedule but the topics sound interesting: Infectious Diseases vs. Socialization… Playing the Odds and Stress, Burnout and Compassion Fatigue: Keeping the Balance for You and Your Agency. The second one sounds like it is applicable to nonprofits in a variety of social service organizations. If you attend one of these, please let me know what you think.

Puppy mills have been a problem in this country for decades. On October 10, Governor Ed Rendell signed a new law in Pennsylvania which nearly abolishes all possibility for these operations to continue in the state. PA has been one of the worst states as far as animal protection legislation is concerned but this new law could make them into one of the best. Other states should take notice of this law and follow its example. Here is an article from the Intelligencer Journal of Lancaster County which outlines some of the changes.