Dog Blog

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

I dropped off an autographed copy of Embarking on Murder for the upcoming SSPCA Reigning Cats & Dogs Gala this afternoon.  Of course, I had to tour the kennels in case any bassets had turned up.  I saw a starved boxer and a three-legged poodle, but the dog that I can't get out of my mind was the Staffy mix pup (mixed with what is uncertain).  He held a purple octopus toy in his mouth and wouldn't let go of it for anything.  He so wanted to play.  He was all a-wiggle and kept teasing me with the toy.  The most distinctive thing about him were his ears.  They looked like the ears on a Scottish Fold cat.  I thought perhaps he'd been born that way until I asked the attendant about them.  His former owner had cut off his ears with scissors (without anesthesia, of course).  Apparently, this is a common practice among the dog-fighting crowd.  Is it supposed to make the dog look more menacing?  God knows the reason for such mutilation.  I can't even imagine the pain that little animal must have endured.  It's amazing it didn't bleed to death, or did they then burn the wounds to cauterize the cuts?  If my husband and I didn't want another basset hound so badly, I think I would have come home with an earless Staffordshire terrier today.  I hope that whoever adopts him takes him to schools to educate children about animal cruelty.  That's what I'd do if he were mine.  I hope the boxer and three-legged poodle are adopted, too, into loving homes where they are spoiled and adored.  Lord, you want to take them all, but of course you can't.  

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FOR CAT LOVERS WHO READ THIS BLOG:

An adoption event for some of the hundreds of cats that were found hidden in a Meadowview house in south Sacramento after their owner was evicted will be held at the Wag Hotel (1759 Enterprise Boulevard, West Sacramento, CA 95891) on Sunday, September 27 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Please give these wonderful animals loving new homes.

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

I missed adopting another basset today.  Louise was at the Sacramento County pound, according to the Pet Harbor Website.  She had the longest ears of any basset I've ever seen.  Mutant ears! She was a five-year-old tri-color girl.  She had a sweet look in her face.  She reminded me of our dear old Patience.  Anyway, I'm glad she got adopted, to a good home, I hope.  I also hope they are prepared for the numerous ear infections she will probably develop with those absurdly long ears of hers.  Maybe that's why she was surrendered.  Speaking from experience, it can get expensive.  Bubba's ears weren't that long, but they were heavy and caused problems throughout his life.  I hope Louise's owner will get a really big snood to keep her ears from dragging the ground and keep them out of her food and water bowls.  

Why do breeders keep doing this to dogs?  Ears like that serve no good purpose, at least not for the dog.  Certainly to vanity and greed of the breeder who produces them and profits from the sale.  But where did this dog end up?  The same place so many of the results of indiscriminate breeding end up, regardless of what breeders claim.  A basset like Louise would never be able to track hares in the field, which bassets were bred to do.  She'd constantly be tripping over her ears.  Heavens to Murgatroyd!  Even rabbits don't have ears that long!    

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Wednesday, September 02, 2009

I found this post on Craig's List from one of the animal care workers at the same shelter where we adopted Bubba in 1997.

FINAL EMBRACE 

Come let me give you one final embrace as I try not to notice the look on your face. Wagging your tail and bouncing around not knowing what's coming as I wrap my arms round. Then I call forth this wall that splits us apart, no feelings for you can I hold in my heart. As I raise your arm up like I want you to shake, I try not to think it's your life that I take. Then it's all over in a red little flash as I hold on to you til death has its grasp. Look in my eyes, can't you see, I'm not the murderer society's labeling me. I go on doing this day after day knowing it's life that I'm stealing away. So people please please take your pets from this place and spare me the pain of their FINAL EMBRACE. 

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