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.