National Cat Day

 

 

National Dog Day

Emma's Birthday

You know, I would so much rather hear about people like Emma than about the Krappy Kardashians etal.

Happy Birthday

and 

Thank you, Emma!

Dog Shaming

 

 

R.I.P. Schoep

Schoep and his owner John Unger made headlines last year when a local photographer snapped this photo:

 photo: Hannah Stonehouse Hudson

So, what's special about this?
Read:  Man and Dog

Schoep died last week at age 20.

News of the Day

With all of the depressing and disgusting news this week, here is some that is excellent:

Marine and dog Reunited in a surprise ceremony

Ross and Casey

Thank you to:

 

Ray Reynolds,

 

the Iowa Elk's Association,

 

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad,

 

and all of those in on the surprise

for making it happen

and to Sgt Ross Gundlach

 

 for caring enough to make it all happen.

Best Friends

Izismile: Belarusian_soldier_becomes_best_friend_for rescued_squirrel

Posted by: Xaniel




Pyotr Pankratov, a former Belarusian Special Forces warrant officer, saved this abandoned squirrel from death several years ago. Since then the animal called Masik has been the man’s best friend. Pyotr left the army three months ago and works as a taxi driver now, and Masik accompanies him all the time.

Bearenting

Parenting, bear style:

No 'time out', no excuses, no ignoring the offense and the offender.

Just punishment - and - forgiveness, sure and swift.

A lot of 'modern' parents could learn from this.

Save Snoopy !

A Deltona judge will decide on January 25th if Snoopy will be euthanized.

His offense?

Defending himself from an unprovoked attack by another dog.

Snoopy, a pitbull mix, was being walked by his owner. Snoopy was on a leash.

The other dog, also on a leash -which the owner was NOT holding- ran across the street and began growling, barking and biting at both Snoopy and his owner.

Snoopy bit back in defense.

Now, Snoopy was supposed to be wearing a muzzle because he was labeled a "dangerous dog" for an attack on a different dog and owner in 2007.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UPDATE: My information was from a news article on the web. I have been contacted by a reader who wrote the following: 

 Please CORRECT the misinformation in your article wherein you state that the 2007 incident was "an attack on a different dog and owner in 2007." The 2007 incident was a tussle between two dogs in the same household - two "siblings" arguing - the guardian of both these dogs is Snoopy's guardian. The other dog was Oscar, Snoopy's "brother" and it was a family argument. Oscar and Snoopy went on to live happily and safely together for years after this disagreement, until Oscar died of natural causes. Please CORRECT the misinformation in your article immediately.

Now why Snoopy would have been labeled "dangerous" and sentenced to wear a muzzle for this incident, I do not know. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

But, Snoopy did not start this and it wasn't his fault he wasn't wearing a muzzle.

“How do you put a dog down because he didn't have a muzzle on? That should be me. That's my fault. Not his fault. Fine me,” said Bob Johnson, Snoopy's owner.

Story here

I don't much like pit bulls.

But I don't believe that Snoopy should die.

And neither do the folks who have signed the on-line petition.

On-line Petition: Save Snoopy

Save Snoopy Facebook page

Saving the Kittehs

While looking at LOLcats, I came across this great story:

Saving Kittehs in the Midst of War

 Kudos to U.S. Marines: Brian Chambers, Chris Berry and Aaron Shaw, as well as to the British Royal Marines who started Nowzad  in 2007, an organization dedicated to rescuing stray and abandoned animals in Iraq and Afghanistan.

H/T: Icanhascheezburger.com

LOL Cat: Mavis

Cats and Dogs

First,  the Kitteh who climbed the policeman 

Too funny!

H/T: those wonderful LOLcat folks at Icanhascheezburger.com
 



Second,  the Doggie doing the Welcome Home Dance 

 
Too sweet!

 
H/T to Robbie at UrbanGrounds.com

LOL Cats

Chasing the Dream

Dogs do dream. His name is Bizkit.

  

 Thanks to Failblog.com

Rabbits and Rats and Mice, Oh My!

Mankind started coming to Macquarie Island in about 1810 to kill the island's native animals (fur seals, elephant seals, and penguins) for fur and blubber.

During these visits, rats and mice came off the ships and prospered due to the lack of predators (mankind not counting). OOPS.

Cats were then deliberately introduced to keep the rodents from eating mankind's food stores. So the cats ate the native seabirds to the tune of about 60,000 per year. OOPS.

Then, about 1870, rabbits were brought to the island by sealers to breed for food. Within a hundred years, 100,000+ rabbits were snarfing down the native vegetation. OOPS.


In 1985 mankind started removing the 2500 cats, the last of which were removed in June 2000.

Without the cats, the seabird _and rodent_ populations started rising. OOPS.

Rats and mice ate the birds' eggs as well as the young chicks. Rabbits ate the grass. The loss of vegetation has lead to, wait for it, soil erosion and cliff collapses. In September 2006, a landslide at Lusitania Bay partially destroyed an important penguin breeding colony.  OOPS.

Removing all the feral cats from Macquarie "caused environmental devastation" and will cost authorities 24 million Australian dollars ($16.2 million US) to remedy.

The 'remedy' is to remove the rest of the 'invasive animals'... rabbits, rats, and mice.

Plans to eradicate both rabbits as well as rats and mice from the island will begin in 2010. Helicopters using global positioning systems will drop poisonous bait that targets all three pests. Later, teams will shoot, fumigate and trap the remaining rabbits.

OMG. We need to turn these people loose on the terrorists!

So what's my point? Circle of Life? Don't Mess with Mother Nature?

I have no idea but I do have a headache.

Abbey, Meredith, and the US Post Office

I was sorting through some old e-mail that I had saved and came across a "Dear God" letter.

Now, I'm not a religious person, but I don't have a problem with people who are, except for those In-your-face-believe-as-I-do-or-die-fanatics, but I digress.

Since the news these days is full of people doing horrible things to other people, I thought it might be the right time for a post about the kindness of strangers.

Have a clean sleeve handy.

POSTAL SERVICE COMES THROUGH

Our 14-year-old dog, Abbey died last month.
The day after she died, my 4-year-old daughter, Meredith, was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey.

She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her that I thought we could, so she dictated these these words:
 
Dear God,
Will you please take special care of our dog, Abbey? She died yesterday and is in heaven. We miss her very much. We are happy that you let us have her as our dog even though she got sick. I hope you will play with her. She likes to play with balls and to swim. I am sending some pictures of her so when you see her you will know that she is our special dog. I really do miss her.
Love, Meredith

PS: Mommy wrote the words after Meredith told them to her

We put the letter in an envelope with two pictures of Abbey and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address on it. Then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front of the envelope because she said it would take lots of stamps to get the letter all the way to heaven. That afternoon she dropped it into the letter box at the post office. For a few days she asked if God had gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had.

Yesterday there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch addressed "To Meredith" in an unfamiliar hand.

Meredith opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers titled, "When a Pet Dies". Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God in its opened envelope. On the opposite page was a picture of Abbey & Meredith taped under these words: "For Meredith".

We turned to the back cover and there was the other picture of Abbey and this handwritten note on pink paper:

Dear Meredith,
I know that you will be happy to know that Abbey arrived safely in heaven. Having the pictures you sent to me was a big help. I recognized Abbey right away.

You know Meredith, Abbey isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. Since we don't need our bodies in heaven, I can't keep your beautiful letter. I am sending it to you with the pictures so you will have this book to keep and remember Abbey.

One of my angels is taking care of this for me. I hope the little book helps.

Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for helping you write it and sending it to me. What a wonderful mother you have. I picked her especially for you.
Love, God

Verified True by snopes.com: Abbey

Thank You, Too...War Dogs

US War Dogs

America's Forgotten Heroes

Dogs of War: Cooper

From Army Times:

The first military working dog team killed in action together since the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were laid to rest together July 18, 2007.

Cpl. Kory D. Wiens, 20, of the 94th Mine Dog
Detachment, 5th Engineer Battalion, 1st Engineer Brigade of Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and his partner, Cooper, a Labrador Retriever, were killed July 6 by an IED while on patrol in Muhammad Sath, Iraq.

The cremated remains of Kory and Cooper were buried together in Wiens’ hometown of Dallas, OR, at the request of his family.

Hans Freimarck, the military working dog coordinator for the Army Dog Program said he didn’t know the last time a canine team was killed together, but Wiens and Cooper were the first for operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

Requietum En Pacem, Soldiers

Buddy the White House Dog

In Memoriam

Buddy, Labrador Retriever
Killed: January 2, 2002

Buddy was the Clinton's White House dog, because you know, it's a sorta unofficial tradition for an American President to have a dog, and we all know how traditionally American the HillBilly Clintons are (especially in election years).
Once his usefulness to the Clintons came to an end ... coincidentally at the same time President Bubba's presidency came to an end ... good dog Buddy was discarded just like anything else the Clintons had no more photo ops use for.

Buddy was relegated to obscurity in Chappaqua.
Left alone, Buddy got loose outside, playfully chased a contractor's van down the driveway, bounded into traffic on busy Route 117 and was struck by a vehicle driven by a 17-year-old girl.

Secret Service agents rushed after Buddy, but were, alas, too late. The agents immediately took Buddy to Chappaqua Animal Hospital, where the dog was pronounced dead.
Buddy suffered the same fate as the Clinton's previous dog, a cocker spaniel named Zeke, whom Hillary reportedly did not like having in the Arkansas Governor's mansion.

Word to Seamus, the current Clinton dog: Take care of yourself because they won't.

Dogs of War: Lex

In the news this week is the story of two Marines, Cpl. Dustin Lee and Lex the war dog.

Lex was an explosives sniffing dog, and his and Cpl. Lee’s job was to smell out IEDs and save Marines' lives.

On March 21st 2007 Cpl Lee and Lex were on patrol in the Fallujah area.

They had six weeks left on their tour.

During combat operations that day, Cpl. Lee and Lex were wounded by shrapnel from the same blast. Lex survived, 20 year-old Cpl. Lee did not. He would have turned 21 on April 7th.

Rachel Lee, Dustin’s mother, believes her son’s spirit lives on through Lex because of their close bond, because they were wounded together and because Lex was there as Dustin died.

The Lee family wanted to adopt the 8 year-old war dog, but Lex still had two years of military service left.

 In the history of the Marine Corps War Dog program, no dog had ever been retired early so he could be adopted out. 

That did not deter the Lee family.

  The Lees lobbied the Marine Corps for months, getting their congressman involved. Their efforts paid off and on Friday, December 21st, exactly 9 months after Dustin was killed, Lex was retired from the Corps and adopted by the Lee family during a ceremony at MCLB Albany, GA.

Requiescat In Pace, Marine

There'd be a lot more than 50,000 names on the Vietnam Wall without these dogs, and I don't think the average American even knows the role they played." - Dr. John Kubisz,  a veterinarian who served with the 764th Veterinary detachment in Vietnam.