click to donate free food to animals rescued in japan

FreeKibble donates pet food to animal shelters all over the world. You answer trivia questions, and right or wrong, your click provides 10 pieces of kibble to a homeless animal.

Today, all the food donated through FreeKibble will go to animal rescue efforts in Japan.

Click now! It's free, and the more you click, the more food is donated.

(And don't forget to test your vocabulary and support the World Food Programme by clicking on FreeRice.)

Read More

breed-specific insanity continues in ontario; tea partiers support animal abuse in missouri

Breed-specific insanity continues in Ontario, under the radar of the media and most of the public, but inflicting lifelong pain on the families it tears apart.

Someone claims your dog is a banned breed, and it's up to you to prove she's not. And how do you prove such a thing? You can't. So your dog is taken from your home, and killed. Now, with a later amendment to the law, the dog can now be re-homed out of the province. But what will happen to the dog? And what of your family?

This almost happened to me, a week after we moved to Canada. In the story below, note the day the law went into effect: August 29, 2005. That's the day before we landed. Two days earlier, and we would have been safe. As it was, we were at the mercy of a kind Animal Services person, who may have showed leniency because we had just moved to the country.

Without this, I can't imagine what we would have done. We spent years healing Buster from the tortures he endured, and nursing him through his many chronic illnesses. To think our life with him could have been ended just days after we moved to Canada...! It's too terrible to contemplate.

A family in Cobourg, Ontario, is suffering this way right now. The dog Chaos (pictured above) has caused no trouble. He is not aggressive. He's not even a banned breed! But if you read the story carefully, you might discover what is really going on. The dog is barking. And someone found a way to fix the problem.

Stop K9 Profiling - End BSL (here on Facebook) is asking people to contact Ross Barth at Animal Services at 905.885.7808 and politely ask that Chaos be released.

Those of us who oppose breed-specific dog laws are asking for only one thing: that all dogs be treated equally. It's illegal to arrest people and lock them up because they might do something wrong in the future. (It happens, but it's still illegal.) Why can we do this to dogs?

Dog lovers protest breed ban after pet seized
By Pete Fisher, Northumberland Today

COBOURG/PORT HOPE - Punish the deed, not the breed: that was the message of a protest Saturday in front of the Northumberland County courthouse in Cobourg.

Tracey Van Slyke organized the protest after Animal Control officer Ross Barth and four Port Hope Police officers served a warrant at her home on Wednesday, March 9, and subsequently seized her 11-month-old dog, Chaos.

Officers said Chaos appears to be a pit bull, and therefore falls under banned breed legislation which states that no pit bulls are to be born after the legislation was enacted in August 2005.

"So, we've got an 11-month-old dog that shouldn't be here based on what I determined as to be a pit bull-type dog," said Barth, who was acting as a result of a complaint he received.

Though the dog wasn't at the home, it was later seized at a Cobourg residence.

"I don't believe I ever had an illegal dog," Van Slyke said at Saturday's protest.

Approximately 30 people from Cambridge to Kingston took part in the rally to call for changes to the Dog Owner's Liability Act.

As of Aug. 29, 2005, that restricts ownership of American pit bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers and any dog that is deemed to be substantially similar can be seized.

All pit bulls born before August 2005 were to have been sterilized, tagged and registered. Any dog born after can be seized and destroyed or sent to a research facility for animal testing.

Van Slyke said she has two dogs and is doing her best as a "responsible dog owner," but has also been informed her dogs are "interrupting the enjoyment of other tenants" with their barking.

"My dogs occasionally bark," she said. "I've been working with them to get them to stop.

"I have contacted the legal clinic and they are going to assist me in my eviction notice.

"We need our dog back," she said.

"He's never done anything aggressively other than bark and we've been working on behavioral management with him. He doesn't deserve to die just because someone doesn't think he should be where he is."

. . .

Barth said he has to act under the law when a complaint is made, and if the owners can prove the animal is not a pit bull it would be released back to them.

"I can't say whether I agree with the law or not," he said. "That's not for me to decide. The law is in place and I have to enforce the law."

Barth said nobody involved in this incident wants to see the dog destroyed, "but we know if the court decides we have no option."

Chaos is currently being housed at the Shelter of Hope on Theatre Road in Hamilton Township because Barth couldn't find another place to keep the dog.

Some shelters are shipping the dogs like this to Quebec because that province has no ban on the breed.

Barth is an animal lover himself said it's a disturbing case for all involved.

"It's breaking my heart. I had the dog in my lap. I watched the police officers doing their job and I don't think anyone of us want to see the dog taken away from its owners."

Elsewhere, anti-government freaks will bring suffering and death to countless puppies and dogs, because even the most basic, bare-bones animal protection laws are really just "government meddling" in citizens' lives.

I wrote about this back in October, when tea-party activists were trying to block legislation that would limit some of the most egregious abuses of puppy mills in the state of Missouri. Despite those efforts, that legislation passed. And now they're trying to get it repealed.

For years, Missouri earned the dubious distinction as the nation’s “puppy mill capital” because its lax humane regulations and enforcement allowed dog breeders to raise puppies at low costs in terrible, overcrowded conditions. Last fall, Missouri voters approved a referendum to finally solve this problem — the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act — which mandates regular veterinarian inspections of breeding facilities and ensures a basic level of treatment for dogs, such keeping temperatures between 45 and 85 degrees. Tea party groups stridently opposed the referendum, arguing it was “just another example of big government meddling in people’s lives.” Now, capitalizing on the big gains they made in November, Republicans in the state legislature are poised to repeal the regulations Missouri’s voters enacted. . . .

The bill still has to make it through the state House, and Gov. Jay Nixon (D) has not yet said whether he would sign or veto the bill. Editorializing against the state Senate vote, the Kansas City Star wrote that the “senators showed an arrogant disrespect for Missourians” who voted for better treatment of the animals. “The state legislature, held hostage to interests that regard dogs as just another form of livestock, has ignored the problems for years,” the paper added.

By this light, we should be well on our way to repealing child labour laws, fire codes and minimum wage laws (a cruel joke in most US states anyway).

For more on puppy mills, go here. "Overcrowding" doesn't begin to describe the tortures these dogs are subjected to.

Read More

project maddie lives

Earlier this week I got the sad news that Project Maddie - the pet-food food bank that is the brainchild of my friend Kim Ford (a/k/a Dharma Seeker) - was forced to shut down. PM supporters were hoping it wasn't true, or would at least be a temporary situation.

Temporary it was. One great article in the Toronto Star, animal-lovers rising to the occasion, and Project Maddie lives to see another day. And hopefully, many days.

Wellesley St. E. apartment building fire in September that displaced more than 1,200 people has claimed another victim” a pet food bank that helped supply food to the building’s pets is closing.

Project Maddie — which delivered about 900 pounds of cat and dog food to the Wellesley Community Centre, which had been temporarily set up to help residents who had been forced out of their homes — cannot meet its operating funds, says director and founder Kimberley Ford, who lives in Oakville and works as an insurance company underwriter.

Supplying food to the pets of the Wellesley apartment residents wiped out the supplies in the food bank, said Ford, who did all the deliveries to Toronto in her 2000 Mazda Protégé. Most of the food was donated by a commercial retailer and consisted of food past its expiry date, which is still safe for consumption but cannot be sold.

Ford estimates that Project Maddie helped about 300 pets from the fire and another 200 since she started the organization last April. It helped people at risk of losing their pets due to short-term financial instability, as well as seniors and people living with disabilities on fixed incomes.

People would contact her through the website by sending emails or leaving phone messages asking for help.

Ford was able to replenish through more commercial donations of pet food and now has 300 pounds, but there is no money to pay operating costs to cover the cost of a postal box, run the website, www.projectmaddie.com or pay for gas to deliver food.

More here, plus click through for a great pic of Kim and two family members.

Many thanks to Star reporter Valerie Hauch, and to La Zerbisias for helping to make this happen.

Read More

so much to be thankful for

We had such a great trip. Tala especially had the time of her life. She loves the car - no, that's not quite it, she's obsessed with the car. This is the only dog I've ever seen who loves to leave the dog park, because it means more car time! This trip included two trips of more than 10 hours each, plus several shorter drives. Tala heaven.

She still barks furiously at every passing car on the highway, but on longer trips, she'll give up and lie down for long stretches of time, before popping up and resuming her game. We have some sedatives - only the second time we've ever used them for her - but even with the drugs, the first hour or three is solid barking. We've done extensive training to try and correct this, but after working for weeks to see a microscopically small improvement on training trips - only to see that gain wiped out in the first 30 seconds of normal car travel - we gave up. Hey, no one's perfect, not even Tala.

In addition to her mega car time, Tala had three trips to a dog park near my mom's place (hooray for the internet), ran after a football being tossed around in a backyard, and soaked up tons of attention as the only dog among a whole lot of dog lovers.

Our mini-vacation was perhaps less exciting than Tala's, but great nonetheless. Because she was with us, we didn't go into New York City at all, so we missed seeing some friends. But my great friend NN came to New Jersey for breakfast, and Allan and I spent much more time relaxing than we usually do, which was very welcome. We had our usual two Thanksgiving celebrations - one at a restaurant with great food and wine, and the other a big casual gathering full of yummy, home-cooked, organic food.

I know I say this every year, but say it I must. When you grow up in not the happiest of families, holidays and family gatherings are nothing to look forward to. As you may know from your own experience, whatever crap your family goes through only gets worse. As a child and young adult, my holidays were occasions of stress, anxiety and fear. But now our family gatherings are pure fun and love and joy. My standard line: "Death and divorce? You say that like it's a bad thing!"

And every year, our US Thanksgiving ends with one great joy: coming home to Canada.

I have two details to share from our drive home - one complaint and one recommendation. Next post.

Read More

animal rescue in its purest form

Many thanks to JohnGF for sending this.

A great story without words.

Read More

teabaggers for animal cruelty

Just when you think you know how insane the tea-crazies have gotten, one of them manages to drain a little more water from the pool. (A mixed metaphor, I know, but the Seinfeld line is too good to pass up.)

Concerned folks in the state of Missouri are trying to pass a law against the worst excesses of puppy mills, by legislating some minimum standards for breeders.

Puppy mills are horribly inhumane places where dogs are kept in disgusting conditions and used as breeding machines, forced to bear litter after litter of puppies until they die of exhaustion. The offspring of those tortured dogs are crammed into tiny cages, never socialized, exercised or attended to, and fed the bare minimum for survival.

Then they are cleaned up and sold to retail pet stores, to sit in windows until someone buys them. They often end up abandoned because they are so completely unsocialized, or die an early death caused by the abuse and neglect.

So who could oppose legislation against puppy mills? (Except, of course, the people who profit from them.) Why, the tea-partiers, of course. It's a socialist plot to prevent red-blooded Americans from owning as many dogs as they want.

A conservative group in Missouri is picking up the backing of the Tea Party and Joe The Plumber in its quest to stop the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and other animal rights groups from passing "radical" anti-puppy mill legislation.

The measure, which can be read in full here, is called Proposition B or the "Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act." It aims to help eliminate the "3000 puppy mills" in Missouri that constitute "30% of all puppy mills in the U.S.," according to Michael Markarian, the Chief Operating Officer of the HSUS.

The HSUS is a national animal rights advocacy group that doesn't financially support local Humane Society shelters.

"This measure would provide common sense standards for the care of dogs," Markarian told TPM, including sufficient food and clean water, vet care, regular exercise, and adequate rest between breeding cycles, among other things. Markarian said the measure only applies to "commercial dog breeding facilities" that have more than 10 breeding females who they use for "producing puppies for the pet trade."

Sounds pretty straightforward, no?

Well, according to the Alliance For Truth, the main force behind the anti-Prop B movement, there is something much more nefarious afoot (er, apaw) in the HSUS measure. The Alliance For Truth claims that the HSUS has a "radical agenda" and is "misleading the public with its intentions on Prop B. The society seeks only to raise the cost of breeding dogs, making it ever-more difficult for middle-class American families to be dog-owners."

Anita Andrews from Alliance For Truth told TPM that it's a "deceptive, lying bill" that is "trying to purposefully get rid of the breeders." The state of Missouri, she said, has been given a bad rap as "the puppy mill capitol" of the U.S. but "in truth we have the best ribbon breeders in the country." And, Andrews said, the state already has anti-cruelty laws on the books.

"They don't like animals," she said of the Humane Society of the United States.

Via AMERICAblog, via James.

To learn more about Missouri puppy mills and what you can do to help, go here.

Read More

why we love dogs, part 1,357,829

Best watched on mute, in my opinion, but don't miss it. Many thanks to James.

Read More

A SHORT BREAK FROM THE POLITICAL CHAOS

This post contains a video. to hear it properly, please click off the sound on the "Ave Maria" music widget on the right hand side of the page.


Sometimes, for the sake of sanity, we just need to take a break from the crazies that are destroying our nation. So why not try and wrap our minds around a little dog logic?

You will find that viewing this video in full screen mode will do it so much more justice.

Read More

not only cute, but smart, too

One cutie does not want a bath.

And another cutie wants a boycott.

Thanks to David and Dharma Seeker.

Read More

end of summer personal wrap-up

Classes start next week, and I greet the new term with a mix of eagerness and dread. I'm eager to check off the classes I need to get this degree and begin my new career. Each term equals two more check marks towards the 16 I need. And I dread giving up my time: not being able to read what I choose, having to say no to so many things I want to do, always being pressed for time, being tired.

My summer was good. I didn't have quite the ocean of free time I would have liked, because I needed to earn more money, and took all the transcribing work I could get. But I did a lot of work for the Campaign, got a lot accomplished around the house, socialized more, and read as much as I could (about half as much as I wanted). Our party was great, Shakespeare at Stratford was great, our trip to California for the wedding was great. The low-point of the summer, of course, was losing Cody, but I actually expected that sooner than it actually came.

One thing we didn't do this summer was hike in regional or provincial parks. Cody couldn't do that anymore, and we wouldn't go off and leave her at home. So yesterday - a sliver of time between Cody and school - we took Tala to Hilton Falls, a hike I like because it's nearby and flat, and very wooded. The end-of-summer falls were quiet enough that Allan took Tala right up beside them, and she had a great time trying to eat the spray.

Also yesterday, we picked up Cody's ashes. You know why death sucks? Because it's so damn final. No matter how much you miss your loved one, he or she will never come back.

I didn't watch as much baseball this summer as I would have liked. The Red Sox had a decent season - not abysmal but not spectacular - with key members out with injuries for weeks and months at a time. In the American League East, decent gets you third place. The theme of our 2010 gamethreads seemed to be who has lost hope and when. I freely admit I was one of the first to believe the season was going nowhere, but I was content to watch and enjoy even without playoff hopes. That's how much I love the game. And it's still my favourite way to unwind.

As baseball winds down, movie season will have a different look this year. We're thinking of watching fewer movies, and renting whole TV series instead. On Red Sox off days this summer, we watched marathon sessions of "Dallas" (my favourite brain junk food), then moved into "The Chris Isaak Show," which I loved years ago (and which is not actually out on DVD yet, so of course we're not really watching it).

A friend recently turned me on to "Veronica Mars," which I had never heard of and went completely bonkers over. It's a brilliant combination of teenage coming-of-age and detective show, and one of the best teen shows I've ever seen. Everyone recommends "Slings and Arrows," which we've never seen at all, and somebody out there probably has "The Larry Sanders Show," which I loved, but only saw one or two seasons of.

Last winter, after coming home from class, I was often too tired to watch a movie. I don't know how that is possible, but I felt so fatigued that I simply couldn't concentrate on anything. So we would watch "Dallas" - lots of it. Allan added "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show" to our collection, and for when I'm watching by myself... Xena! Part of my birthday present this year was the complete "Xena: Warrior Princess". Complete! Xena! Heaven!

I also don't need to gorge on independent films the way I used to. Most likely, if I make a list of the top five or seven films I want to see, that will do.

My classes this term are two requirements: Foundations of Library and Information Science, and Management of Information Organizations. Both sound pretty important for the field, so I'm hoping they turn out to be interesting.

Read More

end canine profiling: support hershey's bill

Also five years on: Ontario's discriminatory anti-pit-bull law. Many thanks to the organizers and attendees of yesterday's rally in Toronto, and to MPP Cheri DiNovo for everything she's done.

In the Star: Dog owners want same laws for all breeds.

One law for all. Is that too much to ask?

Stop K9 Profiling

Read More

five years ago today, we move to canada

The fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is also the fifth anniversary of the day we moved to Canada.

It's a poignant anniversary, as two members of that family are gone now.

Cody was in a den of boxes at the far back of the World Fullest Mini Van™. She had no grey fur yet!

Buster was in the front, between us, touching me in some way for the entire trip. We had a cooler full of special food and medication for him.

So much has changed since then. Allan often says that his day-to-day life has changed little since moving to Canada, but I feel that mine has changed drastically. Suburban life, our friends here, the war resisters campaign, grad school - all new. I'm not writing professionally; I'm looking towards a new career.

Five years doesn't seem that long, but it's a lifetime of sorts.

Read More

view from my kitchen

This was hanging in the kitchen when I came home from work. It wasn't there when I left this morning!

Read More

save ontario's dogs! anti-bsl rally next weekend in coronation park

On Sunday, August 29, join people who love dogs and hate bigotry for Ontario's largest anti-breed-specific-legislation (BSL) rally ever.

August 29 is the five-year anniversary of the day Ontario's unjust, ignorant BSL law went into effect. It is also the day before the five-year anniversary of our move to Canada. Because of that timing, our Buster was a criminal before his paws ever touched Ontario land, simply because of who his parents were and what he looked like. See this old post: "why bigoted breed-specific laws must be repealed, or how ontario laws almost ruined my life".

If you are in the area and love dogs, come to Toronto's Coronation Park and hear how you can help repeal this awful law.

WHEN: Sunday, August 29, 12:00 noon

WHERE: Coronation Park, Lakeshore Boulevard west of Bathurst, Toronto

WHAT: SAVE ONTARIO'S DOGS! A day of entertainment, information and education in support of Hershey's Law.

Come learn more about what Hershey's Law means for Dogs in Ontario and how Calgary has become the most successful city for bite reduction with NO BSL!

Featuring: Ontario MPP Cheri DiNovo, Bill Bruce of Calgary Animal Services, music, Canine Good Neighbour Testing, Agility Course, and more.

In the evening, there will be a candlelight vigil at Queen’s Park.

The event is sponsored by Stop Canine Profiling and The Dog Legislation Council of Canada.

Read More

pupdate and us-update

First and last, thank you to everyone who posted here and/or on Facebook, or sent supportive emails, texts and anything else. Your support and understanding really means a lot to us.

Many people have been asking about us and about Tala, so I thought I should post an update.

We are sad, but fine. This was what professionals call "a good death," meaning the person or creature died with dignity, not in pain, surrounded by love, and at peace. For a dog, I think it also means that the people were comfortable and at peace with the decision to let the dog go.

Allan and I have lost animals suddenly, and young. We were knocked out by grief: inconsolable. We have friends who went through that recently, and it's a nightmare. Losing Cody was nothing like that.

I miss Cody, and my heart aches for her. But I am comforted knowing that she lived her full lifespan. It's never long enough, but for a larger dog and a rescue, 13 years old is a good showing. I mean that most sincerely and profoundly. Think of it as the difference between losing an elderly grandparent to old age and losing a young friend in a traumatic accident. One is far worse.

Tala seems to be doing well. The day of Cody's death and the following day, she seemed confused and a bit down. Last night Allan found her curled up in Cody's ditch, something Tala had never done. That worried me. But this morning Tala and I went on a long walk and she seemed like herself.

I'm concerned about this weekend. We work long hours, and dogwalkers come in to feed and exercise them. Her. Tala has never been alone all weekend. Cody would lie on the bed (as if we didn't know!) and Tala would be in her crate, and they would be together the whole time. Now Tala will be all by herself. There's nothing I can do about that right now. One day she'll have another sister, but not yet.

Other than that, I think she'll adjust pretty quickly.

We've put away Cody's bowl and leash sooner than I normally would, to help Tala into a new routine. I'm sure for her the house smells of Cody and maybe it always will - their sense of smell is so acute - but at least we can start building the new Tala-only universe.

So thanks again, and wmtc will resume regular programming soon.

Read More

cody

Cody Brown
April 19, 1999 (adopted) - August 24, 2010

Goodbye, sweet girl. We love you.

Read More

good news and bad news of the personal variety

Wmtc5 was a great success, despite the rain. Or perhaps partly because of it. J&L came with a pop-up canopy, and M&C came with a beach umbrella and a tent tarp, and people set about rigging up shelter. Folks huddled their chairs under the makeshift tent, and crowded into the kitchen, and I managed to convince a few people to make use of the nice dry living room.

There were about 30 people, seven dogs, one sleeping baby and an abundance of good food. And a lot of water.

That's the good news.

The bad news, which I was waiting until after the party to announce, is that Cody is not doing well. We don't know if it's a recurrence of the cancer, or something new, but her quality of life has taken a downturn. She is clearly unhappy.

The details are new in my experience with dogs. She has developed a condition that is affecting the skin wherever there is no fur - her nose, around her eyes, and on her paw pads. The skin is cracked and crusts form from fluids that ooze out. At first we though it was dry skin, but it didn't respond to anything, only worsened, then spread to other areas.

It could be skin cancer or it could be some new disease. Our vet wants us to do a biopsy, in case it's something simple and treatable. I'm not expecting that, but it might be best to do a biopsy, just to know.

Allan and I have lost three dogs together. Each we loved well beyond my ability to describe; each death was a mountain of grief. I will say this: it never gets any easier.

Cody has lived the longest of any of our dogs so far. She's had a good, happy, long life full of love, joy and adventure. Right now that knowledge doesn't ease the thought of letting her go, but eventually it will.

Read More