Tag Archives: opinions

A Note To Northeast Ohio Rescue Groups

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And, no it’s not a warm and fuzzy note…..

I think ALL the shelters in Northeast Ohio, all the dog clubs (training and showing, purebred and performance), trainers, educators and all the rescues, every stinkin’ one of you, need to get together and figure out ways to help animals.

Here’s what needs to happen:

We all need to educate people esp., kids in the schools, about proper pet ownership, responsibility, compassion, bite prevention and breed education. We need to educate them as to where to get a dog or cat when the time is right.  A shelter, a legitimate rescue, a responsible breeder.  We need to educate people to think with their heads, to research it all out.  We need to shock the hell out of 4th graders through middle school age kids, which is when their compassion level seems to sink and their need to fit into a group and be “cool” rises. That’s where dog fighters find their recruits and it goes all across all demographics.

We need to find ways, funds, donations to provide more low cost or no cost spay/neuters and med clinics etc.This is what (IMO) is what is needed.  Look to organizations like C.H.A.I.N.E.D. in Detroit and “Break The Chain” in New York who help individuals with proper fencing, housing, educating and low cost or no cost “speutering.”  Northeast Ohio, as of this writing, has no organization doing their kind of work.  Everyone seems to sit in their nice, middle-class homes and bitch about all those ghetto or redneck types with their dogs on 20 pound 6 foot long chains. They post pictures and post their outrage on Facebook. It IS outrageous and disheartening!  People on social media are honestly sick to death of seeing it.  They are sick of seeing dead dogs. Come up with a solution that’s not a knee-jerk one.  “Get rid of all the breeders!” Yeah, that one won’t work.

Put on your brave face, your big girl/boy pants and see how you can help, person to person.  Half of you won’t even go into inner city schools and do educational programs and answer questions.  Any kind of crazy question and I’ve gotten a lot of them.

There is a desperate need for fosters.  So why are people turned down all the time?  Good people.  Why aren’t there local seminars sponsored by many rescue groups with a vet and a good trainer about how to foster successfully! Especially helping potential fosters figure out the logistics of adding another dog into their own home. Crates?  Temporary fencing?  Introduction training?  Why isn’t that in place and offered often?

And since we’re on a bit of a rant….I’m really sick and tired of all the damn pit bull rescues fighting and spatting with each other like a bunch of wet cats in a barrel.  As if the poor “breed” (if you can call it that since it’s a mix of bully types) doesn’t have about a thousand strikes against it, you all are beating your swords against your shields  “Our way or NO Way!”. Get off the damn bitch-mobile and start working together.  Get the best of your best out into the public eye and show a uniform front.

There are WAY too many women involved in rescue in NE Ohio —- there is too much bitchy estrogen running around. We need to find a way to get more men involved.  Grill some steaks and hire a stripper…I don’t care. Whatever it takes.  Hit up athletes, business types, men, men, men…we need men!  We need more male spokesmen. Men love animals too and their way of helping may surprise you! Having a guy tell another guy why he needs to be man and get Buster’s nuts removed seems to work better!

I’m sick to death of rescue people bashing folks in purebred dogs, flinging all that “You’re BAD, evil, You are the sole contributing factor to the over-population problem!!” with their one litter a year.  First of all most the hash-flingers don’t even know anyone seriously involved with purebred dogs. I’ve asked. Many rescue folks have never taken their dog to any kind of class, hired a trainer or tried to compete in any venue with your mixed breed!  The snobbery of He’s Just My Pet.  Not that this isn’t the most noble gift dogs give us but they are capable of much more.

You WANT people in purebred dogs on your “side.”  Are you crazy not to get to know them?  Even court them a bit?  No, they will not support your total breeding moratorium and for wiser reasons than the average rescuer could possibly comprehend and it has NOTHING to do with The Almighty Dollar. Here’s a new flash, kids.  The serious “hobby” breeder is not what is causing your pet over-population problem. He or she is the least offensive and will be the first to be punished by your breeding moratorium.  They plan a breeding better than you probably planned who were you going to marry and have kids with!

They have connections most rescues only dream about it.  Don’t think for one nano-second they don’t know about the pet over-population problem and aren’t distressed and sickened by it.  Throughout the country, most of the time, someone who shows purebred dogs is one the first on site of any given puppy mill or hoarder bust.  No one, and I mean, NO ONE is more incensed about Puppy Mills or Hoarding than the folks in Purebred Dogs. I’ve noticed in the rescue community a ton of sun-burnt nostrils on self-righteous up-turned noses when the subject of someone who “shows dogs” comes up. Since so many of you know very little about that world of showing, obedience, agility, or other dog sports or haven’t been immersed in it as a trainer, handler, assistant, judge, groomer you are bashing a group of animal lovers en masse without a great deal of personal knowledge.

One must only look at the Puppy Mill Case of over a hundred Rottweilers in Texas to understand what Rottie fans, owners, breeders did to pitch in and really help these dogs in need. Click here for an article about it.

Seriously, if the bottom line is that dream of a no-kill shelter or the banishment of Puppy Mills do not count out people in the Fancy of Showing Dogs.  Your little rescue is not on national TV being watched by millions of people worldwide but Westminister Kennel Club is!  You honestly think that the WKC winner couldn’t use his time on “Good Morning America” to tell folks to spay and neuter  to get a dog from a shelter, or a breed rescue.

People who show dogs are not the enemy!  They would never condone a puppy mill or a hoarder. So get off your high horse and stop slamming them.  They love dogs too!

Two Left, Three Returned

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Thank God/dess For Feliaway Spray!

You’ve heard of Boomerang Kids?  You fling them out and they keep coming back. And Back. They’re like velcro, you can’t get rid of them?  It’s usually some stupid sh*t, like they can’t keep a job and they hate their room-mates.  I know, sometimes it’s legit.  20-somethings seem to have a nagging propenisty for boomeranging!

We now have a case (yet again) of Boomerang Cats.  The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Dink and Envy FINALLY left to be with their mother-owner, as they should.  They’d been here for five years, leaving briefly in July 2009, or was it 2010….time is blurred.

Now D&E are basically pretty nice cats.  Dink is the little one and she is the best cat with little kids I’ve ever encountered, barring the kittens I raised.

Envy is her much larger, (by about 10-12 pounds) easy-going, full litter brother. He and my Rufus got along as well as 2 cats can.

Rufus and Dink? Well, let’s just say it was a stand-off. He’d stand and she’d back off.

Through an almost surreal series of “I Can’t Make This Sh*t Up If I Tried” they are back.  Hopefully, temporarily.

Plus One.

That would be Lilith the B*tch.

I came home from rehearsal Thursday night to utter chaos in the basement.  The S.U. is frantically (for him, of course, so that’s a casual-frantic, if you can picture such a thing)  spraying Feliaway

everywhere.  Envy has his dopey, “Duh, WTH?” look and it trying to find someplace to hide.  Dink is pacing like a new father in the waiting room. The Step Kid (SK) is somewhere, loudly yapping on her phone.  There’s a quiet stranger (female) somewhere on the first floor of my house.  Lilith is yowling on the landing of the basement steps as only a Siamese can yowl and when she isn’t waking the dead, she’s hissing, spitting and swatting at anything that moves. And Rufus is at the midway up the basement stairs, staring at Lilith from his meatloaf position doing his best Robert DeNiro impression, “You talkin’ to me?”

OK.  And there is only ONE cat crate.  The SK stuffed 3 cats into one crate.  Wow.  No wonder there’s just a LITTLE bit of stress vibe going on here.

Yesterday, after I recovered from the total shock of finding the crawl space door open, which almost gave me a coronary, I spent a good portion of the day, rearranging the basement and fixing Comfy Places For Cats To Sleep here and there. I also had to come up with a quick Bungie Cord Fix for the recalcitrant crawl space door. I did laundry, which didn’t send Lilith into the rafters.  She had chosen the SU’s desk chair as a place worthy of Her Highness’ arse. I put a dog mat on it. She deemed this also worthy.

Last night she deemed that the SU’s lap was worthy of her….but he’d better not pet her.

To answer those FB questions:

Lilith is one my my SK’s cats, Lilith, who yes, was not among the others you’ve met, Wonderful Trainer Person! We are plying her with treats, all of which she snubs… But still, we give her lots of vocal praise and positive reinforcement for neutral behavior and we’ve told her that, in this house, we don’t hiss at other cats.

Yes, we actually look at her and say, “We don’t do that here.  You’re a guest here and that’s not how we behave!”  Don’t ask me why but for some odd reason this seems oddly calming to both B*tchy Cat and Humans.

NO, Dearest Friend she and her siblings better not be staying.  They are supposed to leave by next weekend.  I will, of course, believe this when I see it.  If anything about the last 5 years has taught me is I now have an unhealthy dose of skepticism. Call it The Boy Who Cried Wolf syndrome. My innocence is pretty well shot.

More importantly, I will believe their departure has stuck when they do not (yet again) appear on my door step in some circumstance of High Drama & Angst.

For now, Rufus is upstairs and they are downstairs in the basement.

Lilith is Not Nice To Other Kitties.  She has Dink and Envy cowed (which is amazing because Envy outweighs her by about 12 pounds!  Ah, but Rufus….he’s another story.  She hisses, spits, swats, growls and Rufus’ reaction is, “Yeah.  Sure. Whatever. WTF, I’m not moving.”  I figured, for his stress levels, to let him have the run of the upstairs so he can sleep with us etc.

Lilth is also one of those uber-annoying cats that does the rubbing-marking-flirting-against-your-leg thing, jumps on your lap, talking the whole time and curls up on you as cute as a bug in a rug.  BUT if you even put your hand near to her, she does the hiss-swat-bite-snap maneuver.

I HATE cats like that.  It’s so bipolar.  It’s like “Regular Crappy Cat Crap X 12” stuff and I HATE it.  The good news is she’s getting less stressed hour by hour.  We don’t allow catnip in our house as it encourages crazy-ass behavior in D&E. (The Catnip Crazies seems to amuse the hell out of the SK but we are NOT amused. Use a damn laser pointer; they have fun with that too!)

They’re in a safe place here and our home (for the most part) is pretty calming and she’s probably picking up that Dink & Envy are totally cool in the basement.  I made about 5 places for them to sleep and snuggle, 2 food and water combos and clean the litter box twice a day.  It’ll be fine. It’s just annoying as hell because we can’t have the basement door open.

Thank GOD for Feliaway spray!  

I never believed in that stuff and now I’m a total convert!

The “A” Debate. Again.

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A question was asked:

If you believe we all have a soul, and an abortion occurs, what happens to the soul of the unborn baby?

A man replied:

The soul of the unborn baby will go to heaven, the soul of the killer will go to hell.Plain and simple.

I do not mean to cast stones at anybody’s religious beliefs but Horse-sh*t!  I do not believe in Hell.

I have lived through various stages of “purgatory” in my human existence. If you’ve gone through chemo or radiation, severe illness, chronic. never-ending pain….you have experienced Hell. Alzheimer’s is living Hell.

That being said…..All souls’ go into Spirit, God, The Divine, from where they came.  If the embryo is absorbed, that it a natural abortion; it is still part of God.  The soul rejoins Divine Love, it wasn’t its time to have an earthy experience. If a pregnant woman is injured, molested, shot, almost killed and she aborts, the entity of the unborn still goes back to The One. If a woman is raped, and choose, as is her RIGHT, that unborn will rejoin The Divine.  It is my RIGHT to make that choice.

A man can never know never, ever, in a million years, what that decision is like.  Never.  It is a gross presumption to think that someone who cannot get pregnant could comprehend that.  Never.

We are all spiritual beings having a human experience.  Some of us will have a long one, many decades, some of us will only have a matter of days or hours in finite form.  We are part of The Divine.

I know Ishmael: God within, God without.  My soul is prepared, how’s yours?

Love, Same Sex Marriage and The Timeline

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I got this in the mail yesterday.  Another piece of political B.S.  I almost threw it away but something caught my eye.  The word Marriage.

Now I am married to a wonderful guy, The Spousal Unit. And I don’t normally get too steamed up about Politics, which frankly bore the brains out of me.

But this one frosted my carcass, being a supporter of Marriage in general and Same Sex Marriage in particular.

I am NOT a fan or supporter of Polygamy, mind you, because it’s just not fair.  Until I, as a woman, can have multiple husbands I don’t think a man should be able to have multiple wives. In this case, what works for the gander should apply to the goose!

I am an advocate for Marriage and commitment whether its George and Gracie, George and Benny or Gracie and Maude.

I read this and pondered the unanswerable. How, pray tell, do “they” know opposite sex marriage has been around for 5,000 years? Exactly 5,000.

I mean, really, seriously, how in the hell do they know that?  Maybe it’s 6,000 or 10,000 or 3,500 years. Maybe it’s 4,892 years.

Really, how in the hell do they honestly know?  And isn’t one person “marriage” another person’s hand-fasting or “sealing the deal?”  Until quite recently, a marriage was a business deal.  Or if you were a woman, a way to get out of your family’s house. In many cultures and countries, marriages are still arranged!

“I give you one field, four cows and a bunch of pelts.  In exchange you give me your daughter for my son.  Ugh-wat….”

“I shall give you the province of Anjou along with lands, revenues and titles and you, in turn, shall wed my daughter.  You in turn, for this great honour, shall give me land rights in the following counties….” Etc.

 

“I, an impoverished European noble, really need some money to maintain my family’s estates.  You are one step away from Scottish trash who lived in stone huts but you have money.  I need money.  Therefore, your daughter or son will marry into one of the oldest, most noble houses complete with title which will legitimize your robber baron ways and make you socially acceptable in the highest circles. Plus we’re really inbred and there’s that whole hemophilia thing.  Deal? Deal!”

“After consulting the horoscopes of both parties, and making arrangements for bride price, jewels rtc. we have decided, as the parents, through a matchmaker, that these two people should wed.  Week-long party at my house.  You bring the elephant. Oh, yes, we might let them meet before the ceremony.  How modern of us!”

 

So this Love and Marriage thing is pretty new!  Seeing that it is a more modern concept, let’s be really modern and crazy and let two people in love get married no matter what their sex may be.

Five thousand year institution?  Really?  Where did you come up with that number; out of a hat, Bullwinkle?

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Note To Animal Activists & Advocates

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In recent days, we’ve seen the investigation of the Ohio SPCA into yet another Puppy Mill run by (no surprises) by the Amish. People who care about animals are lauding this as a good thing and it is.  Again, it has thrust the ugly reality of Puppy Mills into the limelight where it belongs.

 

“Another horrible Puppy Mill!!  We need to get those breeders and shut them down!” cry the animals activists and advocates!

All right, enough. You are all pissing me off.

Stop calling them BREEDERS. 

I’m going to publicly bitch-slap the next person who calls these heathens “breeders.”

“Breeding is bad!  Breeders are bad!  Breeders need to regulated!  We need to stop Breeders! There are X millions of animals in shelter because of Breeders!”

By using the term “Breeder”, you are being small-minded, defamatory, insulting and plain ignorant. How dare you? Those people are not BREEDERS and every one of you needs to stop using that term.  Call it what it is: Milling. They are Milling (or if you can’t seem to use that term….) at the very least it’s “farming” companion animals.  Not appealing but there it is.

I’ll even coin a new term so you can stop using the word Breeder and eradicate it from your Advocacy Vocabulary.

It is Animal Profiteering. Say it with me, folks.

Animal Profiteering!

Very good! It’s a lot more harsh sounding than “breeding”, isn’t it?

Whether it’s Mr. Yoder the puppy miller or Joe Schlabottnik down this street who’s looking for a quick buck on his Rottweiler bitch, it’s Profiteering. I’ll lump them with Mrs. Whitebread who thinks Junior should witness “the miracle of birth.” It’s not about raising animals for consumption, which technically is Animal Husbandry.

It’s all about the pay-off, plain and simple.  It’s Profiteering.

Animal Activists think the answer to the appalling over-population of companion animals in shelters all across the country is to Ban Breeding. Great idea in THEORY. We’ve seen how well that worked with Gun Control and the War On Drugs. It’s an extremist knee-jerk reaction that punishes legitimate, caring individuals who truly care about animals, especially pet animals.

Before you go off on your high horse and vilify and abolish all Breeders, think about what you are saying and who exactly you are defaming. Most the Activists and Advocates that I know have no clue.  Many of them are animals lovers, period.  All they can see is that “too many litters of animals, even more animals, the suffering of animal due to overpopulation” is a Bad Thing.  It is. There are too many unwanted animals dying every day. Lest you forget, I too, am an Animal Advocate.

Breeders are not the Activists’ or Advocates’ problem.

Read that again.

Breeders are not the Activists’ or Advocates’ problem. They aren’t even close to being the cause. I don’t care how far down you filter that. “Well, we wouldn’t have this problem if Hanice Smith hadn’t decided to breed a Bull Terrier litter in 1953.” Or 2003. They are not the Enemy! Ninety-nine percent of the time, they are your allies.  The other one percent are neutral.

A Breeder plans their first (or next) litter more carefully than most people plan a pregnancy.  Humans seem to reproduce without careful thought. The Breeder considers health, type, temperament, quality, cost, vet care, the timing and expense of pre- and post-natal care, raising of the babies and whether or not they have more than enough good owners lined up for each and every little one who will be born.  The owner of the stud or female are very fussy about the potential mate. They pick potential owners with the thorough thought that this is a long term relationship. Animal to Owner and Breeder to Owner.  Many breeders turn down potential Owners because they don’t want to associate with that person for the next 10-20 years. They are with the new owner throughout that puppy/kitten/foal’s lifetime and grieve for each one of their “grandchildren” through ill-health, old age and death. I still hear from the husband of a dog I owned and his wife (the Breeder) is deceased.

Breeders have an overwhelming tendency to police themselves and each other.  I have been advised who to NOT get a dog from on several occasions.

Breeders (often silently) help unwanted animals by fostering, housing, volunteering, transporting, educating and training animals in need. They donate their money, time, expertise and needed items.  They advocate for humane treatment and lobby against breed banning. For example, a Canadian dog Breeder I know campaigns heavily against horse slaughter. More Breeders than I care to mention have raised mix-breed or orphaned babies, giving them to the same love, care and socialization as they would the litter they planned for years.  Breeders often foster and rehabilitate rescued animals, an area of animal advocacy crying daily for more help.

Messers Yoder, Schlabottnik and Mrs. Whitebread don’t give two shits about any of that.

So get off your morally high horse and stop calling these profiteers Breeders.  They’re not and if you knew just one Breeder of cats, dogs, ferrets, horses (whatever) you would never, ever lump them with Millers or Profiteers.

 

By the way, I have never (to date) bred a litter.  Nor do I have any intention to do so, as of this date. The only litter I have ever had was a stray cat who showed up pregnant and starving on my doorstep.  Should I ever decide to breed a litter, I will give it far more thought than some human deciding to hatch, believe me.

 

 

 

 

 

To Prong Or Not To Prong: The Debate Continues

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I think this is a good discussion. 

Here’s my take.
 
First of all, for me personally, I have really high standards and expectations for myself and my dogs. All my dogs must eventually get their CGCs. I have only had one (my GP, Dri) who didn’t get his. I don’t want to be the stupid neighbor with THAT dog. It’s very important to me because I’m the caretaker for these dogs. Kids go to school. They get graduation certificates. Shouldn’t my dogs?
 
My goal for my cattledog boy, Artie Blue, CGC, is some kind of Obedience, Rally, Agility or Schutzhund title. For sweet Elke it was getting her CGC (done!) and have her qualify as an Asst. Dog or Therapy Dog. Most of the folks on many of the lists I’m on have Pibbles. Being a terrier-type they have a different head set from herding breeds, which is what I’ve mostly dealt with.  So, I can’t speak as to Pibbles, as much as I’ve worked with them in the shelter and have tons of friends who have them. I love them dearly too and advocate strongly on their behalf! But I “get” herding dogs better.
 
Here’s one my stories as pertains to prong collars: 
In 1993 I had a girl cattledog, Hart-Marie (in the picture) that I started in classes at 6 months old.  She wore a soft buckle collar, and I was armed with tons of treats…..all the trainer would allow.  (Harnesses were for Guide and Service dogs or if you did pulling or crating.) She was pretty good EXCEPT with pulling horribly on the leash while walking.  Her one huge drawback: she was horrible with small, fuzzy, white dogs.
 
For the leash pulling, we did tons of luring and tons of turns using the treats with The Happy Voice, that kind of thing. It worked pretty well, although I was dizzy from all the turns and switchbacks. It did take a while and lot of commitment on my part. The trainer’s deal was: free classes for us for Hart’s lifetime BUT she had to get her CD (Companion Dog AKC obedience title).
 
The fuzzy dog thing? Much harder because Hart meant business; she would have killed that dog (a Bichon). We did lot of desensitizing with focus and treats etc, that kind of thing, but she still wanted to kill that dog. I am not exaggerating.  Cattledogs are very quick; they have to be fast and agile or they’ll get killed by a cow’s kick square in the head.
 
When Hart was a year old, my trainer (who was also Hart’s breeder) gave me a prong, first putting in on my arm and showing me exactly how it worked and how to use it correctly. She also showed me how it needed to be fitted correctly etc. She stressed it was a Training TOOL. Not to be worn causally or all the time, like a regular buckle collar. Ever. We did probably 3 weeks of classes with a double leash technique, never, ever touching the leash with the prong. One class, with no warning (cattledogs can be like that, most of them are extremely subtle, even for a fully sighted person) she went after that Bichon. One pop, we changed directions with lots of praise and treats for a nice heel. I think she wore that collar for maybe 3 months and never again. She didn’t dread it, she never turned away, she’d happily wag her tail and wiggle her butt when she saw it. But she also had great work ethic. I maybe corrected her 5-10 times, mostly to refine a heel, quite honestly.  I will tell you that her three years of year-round classes and out of class work were 90% positives and 10% aversives or corrections.  
 
Hollering at your dog to shut up or using a sound (Acckk! is ours) is considered by many All Positive trainers to be an aversive. Come on, Seriously? Who doesn’t holler at your dog or kid once in a while.  
 
“Oh, Johnny, darling, don’t go near the street.  You might get hurt by a car,” works great on a three (or eight) year old. Not. You go get Johnny and if he continues to do that, you just might holler at him or give him a time-out.  (Parenting a kid is for another blog!)  
 
If Elke insists (sneaks) on getting on the sofa with a bone or toy, she knows that’s a no-no, I’m going to say, firmly and yes, loudly, “Get off the sofa with the bone!” point to the dog bed and praise her when she eats the bone on it.  The rules haven’t changed in 4 years, Elke, and they pertain to all dogs!
 
Back to Hart the prong collar. 
She had her CGC, TDI (when it meant something more) and her CD, was working towards her CDX and Agility titles when my circumstances stopped her training. She could walk through a herd of little, fuzzy, white, yappy dogs on a buckle collar with tons of treats and no worries.  Interestingly enough, she had a best bud who was a Chi-weenie and was fine with smallblack fuzzy dogs, like Schipperkes.  
 
I’ve had 2 other cattledogs I used prongs on once in a blue moon, Jesse Ann, my wonderful pig-head, could get very fixated and wouldn’t respond to click/treats at all. Again, maybe 3 uses of the prong and never needed again for 10.5 years.  Wingie JoJo, my lovable dope was scared of regular clickers (we used a cricket clicker) but he sure loved his food!!  I had to fde food fast and use praise and pets on him!
E-Collars? I am not a fan. I think it’s the lazy way to train.  I do get why hunters use the warning-beeper ones.  “Hey, Buster, you’re off track,” is really hard to holler when your German Shorthaired Pointer is 1,000 yards away.  More and more, I’m hearing, hunters are using whistle training. I don’t how I feel about e-fencing.
 
My current ACD, Artie, is soft and he won’t need a prong. He “gets” what he’s supposed to do, what I’m asking. He’s smart and willing. He’s still reactive and stupid and mouthy but I can get him back. My Elke is very soft and needs a whole other approach to help her get over herself. I confess to use a prong on her for excessive pulling the leash when she a couple of years y0unger and in retrospect it was NOT the “right” thing to do for her.
 
Now times and techniques have changed in those 19 years! I use the clicker too — all the time! I usually use a tongue click when I’m working on leash though. Too much stuff to deal with and my dogs “get” the tongue click! Artie and Elke don’t need the prong. Three other ACDs I’ve had needed the use of a prong maybe a few times each in their 10+ years on this earth in my care.
 
My German Pinscher (a terrier) really didn’t need it. In retrospect it proved to be counter-productive. He was started as a wee pup on a clicker and treats and he is the reason why I can be somewhat ambivalent about clicker training. He was extremely hard to train as he was not food or toy motivated. And trust me, we tried everything, even a real (dead) squirrel tail!  He is also the reason I am loath to get another terrier-type dog much as I love the clownishness of terriers and the love-a-bull mugs of the Big Heads.
 
Point: I think each dog is an individual and may learn in different ways than another dog. It is a process and you may need other tools. Some rock it on a harness, others are idiots on a harness. A tool is a tool. It’s how you use it or even IF you use it at all. Honestly, it’s not for most dogs and definitely NOT for most owners or trainers.  However, I’ll stand by my decision to use the prong collar on Hart-Marie all those years ago.  As a training tool, it helped her “get” that a certain behavior was unacceptable. It may have saved two dogs’ lives: a small, fluffy, white dog’s and hers.  Had she killed a dog, I would have felt obligated to put her to sleep. She died at age 16 1/4 years, nicely trained, deeply loved and tenderly cared for all her life. 
 
Just my opinion.

Moving On From Michael Vick?

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Forgive Michael Vick? Move on from the whole “Michael Vick Thing?” He did the crime and did the time, etc. I can get where some folks are coming from but here’s the deal.

 
He committed a crime. Crime? He committed crimes. Aside from the dog thing, which was horrific, he still got arrested for other stuff. Felony Stuff. He knew exactly what was going on on his property. He aided and abetted all that stuff. He committed other CRIMES besides dog fighting.
 
OK, he served his time. That’s great. However he should NEVER have been allowed near professional sports again. Never. He’s done nothing but profit from his time in the “hoose-cow.” Oh, but he lost all his earnings and potential earnings when he went into prison. Boo-hoo.
 
I don’t see him giving one nickle beyond what he was court-ordered to give to those dogs. If I were his P.R. person, I’d be all over him like spots on a Dalmatian to be doing more and more. Both publicly and privately so some snoopy reporter would find out. 
 
I don’t see him, week after week after week going into schools and community centers and preaching against Dog Fighting and Drug Usage to his idolizing masses. I don’t see him doing one ounce of Good. And he could have. He was and still is in a tremendous position to do incredibly good things, to be a huge power of example.
 
“I screwed up. God will be my Judge and I don’t think He’s going to be happy with me.  I was horrible and cruel beyond words to His defenseless creatures. I enabled people to do illegal, horrible and inhumane stuff. I knew it was going on and I did nothing. In fact, I participated! I will never do it again and I vow to spread the word and tell people it’s wrong, it’s immoral, it’s inhuman, it’s inhumane and don’t you ever do it!  Don’t get caught up the spiral of horror!  It’s not cool!  You’re a big loser if you do it. It’s no way out!” He truly could have had a public “Come To Jesus” moment and done something uplifting with this whole ungodly mess.  A true Man of God (or Goddess) would do such a thing.  And they’d keep on testifying!  
 
That’s why so many “animal people” think he’s such a jerk and still have him in the pillory of public opinion.
 
You don’t hear anyone saying, “Well, Bernie Madoff is doing his time. Let’s move on, shall we?” Nobody that I know of or have heard of is willing to give old Bernie a pass. There are people who are making it their life’s mission to find that money and make restitution. 
 
But because Michael Vick is a football player, an athlete, we should just “move on?”
 
Please do not flip out the “You’re just being that way because he’s black” card.  Dog-fighting, dog killing, dope dealing, trafficking, illegal-gambling, felonious, scum-buckets come in all shapes, sizes and socio-economic backgrounds. I wouldn’t care if he was pink with purple polka dots. He and his charming relatives and friends were a bunch of opportunistic criminals. Period. To pull out the “race card” is demean to people like Martin Luther King.
 
I understand “To err is human, to forgive divine.” (Alexander Pope) And the Latin: “Errare humanus est.” Yes, as spiritual folks, we should pray for Michael Vick, pray especially for his “vick-tims” and for all the people who invested and believed in him. He duped and cheated every stinkin’ one! He is still laughing his way all the way to the bank with million dollar endorsements and contracts. If you or I had committed his crimes, we probably wouldn’t be able to get a job at McDonalds, get a car or buy a house.
 
He is the poster child for “You might get caught, you might have to do some time, but you can profit from this.” What lesson does this teach kids? Where are the ethics?
 
And speaking of…..why don’t most professional athletes have to sign ethics’ clauses?  
 
Why is it that an athlete gets a slap on the wrist but some poor “muther f-er” from the ghetto would still be in jail?  (Better lawyers notwithstanding.)
 
His consequence for committing his crimes should have been banishment from professional sports, in particular football. If he’d been a NASCAR driver (and believe me, I don’t like NASCAR very much) his getting back into the sport would have been a total non-starter.
 
I’m sorry but if you are a professional athlete and you get nailed for felonies, that’s it.  You’re done, buster. If he’d done this stuff, he would have been kicked out of the Olympics!  Nobodyis that good or necessary to the football cause. There are many worthy high school and college kids ready, willing and able to take your place.
 
Get a real job and find out how tough it is for a convicted felon to get work. Then maybe I’ll give you a brief hall pass. Just don’t ever do it again. Ever. The same as with any other felon.
©2012 Mia Knerly-Hess

I Can’t Make This Stuff UP: PETA Again

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PETA again.  “No one belongs in a crate.” Crate training is cruel?  I hope they’re kidding.  They’re not? Damn.
 Shame on anyone who supports these cretins (and that’s an insult to cretins….)
Rock formations have more brain capacity than PETA and its stalwart cohorts.
(Insert a whole string of incredible, mind-cringing swear words.)
I cannot make this stuff up.  Whoever the brilliant mind was that came up with this anti-ad is a genius.  I salute you!
Come-a-my-house and I open up a can of whoopass on you, you neanderthalic, mindless, reactionary PETA jerk-offs! I’ll bet you drink the lemonade too.
Go to your Happy Place now, Mia…..
Happy Place, Happy Place (rocking back and forth…)

On Cross-Posting Animals In Need

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©2012 Mia Knerly-Hess
So you want to set up a Cross-posting site? A Facebook Page? OK, great, super. Here are a few ideas. This goes for Cat People too.
It’s just not enough to click SHARE. Any idiot with a left finger and a mouse can do that.
First of all, please, do not bombard people with Cross-Posts. There are a few individuals on Facebook in particular who cross-post well over 100-200 animals a day. Your mind goes into shut-down mode; a sense of helplessness ensues. “How can I possible help? There are just too many!”
 
There ARE too many. That’s the tragic truth. It’s overwhelming. Just one more tragic story, one more sad face. It can be mind-numbing. That’s the fastest way to get un-Friended on Facebook. That and political posts. 🙂 I have un-Friended a few people because of that. It’s heart-wrenching, depressing and in the end, believe it or not, ineffective.
 
If you’re going to cross-post or set up a site for it, it needs to have different ways that people could help.
First and foremost: People have got to have current and complete info on that animal. It’s my biggest bitch! I wouldn’t post anything that doesn’t have enough info on it unless I know it’s a purebred Schipperke and I’m hollering out to Schipperke folks on the web. It’s a huge waste of time. People want to help, they need info in order to do that. See my Blog on this. I think it would help a ton more dogs if they did better marketing. Plus you, as Site/FB -page Master. need to follow up on each listing and pull it off if the dog is out or dead.
 
There is a HUGE need for a clearing house, a networking site for Rescues and Fosters, locally in your community, as well as county-wide, area-wide, state-wide, country-wide and internationally as well. If you’re in America, there may be a rescue in Canada that may be able to help. Same as in Germany finding a rescue in Italy. Someone needs to shell out some serious bucks and pay a few people to set that up and keep in current. It shouldn’t be completely manned by volunteers. It is too vast and the skills involved need money. Even setting up a local Rescue Networking site is a huge undertaking.
Big Note: A lot of these shelters won’t let John Q Public take that dog/cat out, even in a High Kill joint or off the Urgent list…..and rightly so. They’re figuring whoever is getting that (usually) unfixed dog out is just going to use them for bad things. Having a Rescue/Foster clearing house or network that is kept current is essential for getting animals out and safe in foster.
IF you’re going to set up a Cross-Posting site or FB page you need this:
“Here are other ways people can help”
 
*MONEY.
Donating money or items.
Having a fund raiser. Kids can do that!
If there is a Chip-in to get Rusty out of the shelter, and you’ve got the bread, cough it up.
*Find out what your rescue/shelter needs other than money and see if there is a way to get it. Flea markets, garage and estate sales, etc. etc.
*Figure out what’s going on at the Local shelter and who might be the “go-to” person. Do a little sleuthing and see who can help or who’s got info. Be respectful and kind. Contrary to popular beliefs, not everyone who works at a High Kill is the anti-Christ and gets a Heinrich Himmler hard-on while gassing or heart-sticking kittens. If there is some monster working there, the devil you know…. You could then work politically to get that person fired but have a few replacements in mind. The Monster has connections? Find somebody with better connections. There is always a way, there is always someone higher up the food chain with a bigger hammer.
 
* If you’ve really got some moxie, some balls, a suit and some bread; get on the Board of the Local. Find out who is on the Board too. Those are people you need to watch. That’s where the money is and policy is made. Board Members of many organizations are usually very clueless about day to day workings of any place, notoriously non-profits or publicly run or funded shelters. They have their own agenda for being on that Board and it’s usually NOT because they’re all mushy about animals. It’s either monetary, political or resume driven. Or all of the above.
*Contacting or networking with rescue orgs. Life is truly all about networking.
*Connections, connections, connections. Use them but don’t abuse them. Have something to give back.
*Are you a professional photographer or a budding Ansel Adams? Donate your services, take pictures or video of animals in need. Snag a friend or staff member for a few minutes to help. One good photo or video can make a huge difference for that one animal.
*Offers of transport. Often the rescue and foster combo is possible, but the ride isn’t. If you are driving for a legit 501(c)3 tax exempt means you can write off stuff like the gas on your taxes. (Or you used to be able to do it; it may have changed.)
*Checking references on behalf of a rescue. Or about a rescue!
* Conducting a home check. (I’ve done this. Very interesting and rewarding.)
* If you are a certified CPDT dog trainer or Animal Behaviorist, perhaps donating your services once a month for a training class or seminar for the general pubic or people who adoptedanimals you know about. Animal “misbehavior” is usually tops on the list as to why Fluffy gets dumped at the Local. There’s a whole lot of crazy information out there but people don’t know where or how to get HELP! This will actually help your business in the long and often in the short run.
*Encouraging your vet to have a one day spay-neuter clinic. Or Shots. Or microchips. Or all of the above. Or find someone or a business willing to write this off on their taxes as a charitable donation. Offer to make food for the staff and docs etc.
*Hooking up with local rescues and local kennel kennel clubs. In the Rescue World especially, find out who’s in and who ain’t. Find out who says they’re a rescue and who actually has the 501 status. I can say I’m a Jack-Rabbit Rescue and, being a great schmoozer, I could convince you I am. Trust me, I’m NOT!
*Never Trust Everything YOU Read On The Internet. It is not infallible. It is not the Gospel of anything. Use the phone for starters.
*Ask an org (rescue, shelter) “How can I help?” It may be something as simple-stupid as making (vegan) chocolate chip cookies. (There is a way, but I don’t like them myself.)
* Go into your community and see if there is someone you could help with adequate food, shelter etc. for their dog. Get that dog off its chain or off the back porch. That’s outreach and it’s huge. We only save one dog at a time, really. Look at this one. Break The Chain on Long Island, NY and C.H.A.I.N.E.D. In the Detroit, MI area are some others that come to mind.
*Educate people on the benefits of spay/neuter. Educate people about dog fighting, cruelty, not getting bitten, dog body language, etc. etc. All ages need educating! At about 4th grade, kids are starting to get very jaded.
*Offer to underwrite a Neuter-Scooter for your area.
*Help a foster parent. You can’t do it yourself but you can help! Know someone who is fostering? They are the true ANGELS in this whole mess! Go over and give them a hand. Watch the dog go potty or keep an eye on him while the Foster Parent has a cup of Joe or goes to the movies. Throw cookies at the dog, help him learn something. I swear, it takes a village to raise or help or rehab a dog or cat. You could be that dog’s honorary Auntie or Uncle!
*Men. We Need Men. Ask Men.
Women, God bless us, we sit around and get sad, get mad, write, blog, yack on FB about the horror, the injustice of it all. We form groups and/or rescues and a lot of the time bad-mouth all the other groups/rescues out there.
Men, God bless them, give them a plan or a task and let them implement it. A poor person with no money and a dog on a six-foot chain needs a dog house and a fence? A two-story Craftsman-style dog condo, insulated with gable roofing and windows made out of scrap from a lumber yard I got for free? I’m ON IT! Let them build it; they will come.
Get more men involved especially in the area of a spay/neuter. We ladies can cluck about how male dogs make babies but some big old Bubba could give a sh*t because, what do we know? We don’t have balls. Get your husband/boyfriend/son/dad/brother to help with this one.
The old argument: “You’re taking all his fun away?” Trust me, if Gonzo wants to screw, some still do. I had a neutered male that still did. He’s not making babies; that is the bottom line. They are not YOUR balls, dude. It’s not personal. If a man in your life is some kick-ass, tough as nails, Marine-type, recruit that dude!!
Just remember, Bubba: he’s still your lovable dog and if you’re that hung up about what’s hung under, have those fake balls put on your dog. He’s still going to lick his….uh….Richard. He can always do that. A pocket-rocket happens with male dogs, with or without ’em!
*Organize, brave soul that you are, a dinner-party or picnic or cocktail party and invite every stinkin’ rescue org in your area. Have food. And invite your local AKC, UKC, kennel club, training club reps. Don’t be a lazy person, use emails, phone calls and a written invite. Get to know who does what. Oh, it could get ugly putting all those different groups and factions into the stew, but if you’re a sick broad like me, you might get a vicarious thrill. More importantly, you’d get the players straight in your head. As an added extra bonus some of the combatants may get their heads out of their butts and say, “Uh, well, shoot, scooter, we all want to help dogs. Maybe if we work together a bit more?”
*THERE IS NOTHING LIKE FACE TO FACE TIME! We rely TOO much on the internet and Facebook.
*Rescue People, I know you get inundated with calls and emails, pleas, begging, tears but you got into Rescue for a reason. Be accessible. Don’t blow people off like you’re a Force 10 hurricane. Keep tracks of the idiots, of course. “We just cannot take one more dog into our rescue,” (but maybe provide options) is a rather lengthy way of saying, “No!” but it’s still no. “No” is totally OK. You do what you can with what you got.
If you can’t do it anymore, whether it’s your heart, your health, your life circumstances — no reasonable person is going to flail you —- after a while. They’ll find a new b*tch to burn at the stake eventually. Get out with grace and dignity.
Now I know I’ve mentioning getting in touch with and on board with your local kennel club. A lot of rescue folks and people involved with shelters are saying, “Eeeeeuuu!” I say, get over yourself. A ton of people involved in shelters and rescue are very resentful towards purebred dog owners, handlers and breeders, citing them as The Problem. “They breed dogs. There are too many dogs dying in shelters, being abused,” etc. Trust me, people involved in showing dogs in any arena know exactly (and far better than most of you do) how many dogs (and cats) are dying every day.
 
Here’s a clue by four for you? Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, they are NOT the problem! Read that again. Most people involved in showing and/or breeding dogs (The Fancy, agility, herding, obedience, etc. etc.) are deeply committed to breed rescue. The problem is not purebred dog folks for the most part, it’s your idiot neighbor next door. Or worse. To force a mandatory moratorium on dog breeding will not stop it. That is an airy-faery dream that you need to jettison. It will drive the “good folks” out of dogs and it will drive the bad people (dog fighting, puppy mills etc.) further underground and the fallout in terms of animal cruelty and horrific deaths will astound you.
 
While purebred rescue is their primary focus (and rightly so), many folks involved in purebred dog stuff have a love of DOGS, period. They are also high on your list of go-to folks to fight against Breed Specific Legislation and Puppy Mills. Purebred dog people with medium to large breeds “get” BSL. You don’t have to preach to that choir; they are (99.9% of them) overwhelming opposed to it. And Small/Toy dog folks immediately “get” puppy mills. Rescue groups, shelters and purebred dog people don’t always communicate and they really should. Is the lady who shows Japanese Chins going to be partial to Chins? Of course. But she might have networks the Average Rescue Person has never even considered!! I’ve know quite a few show folks who have done dog transports as well, on the down-low, quietly helping as they can.
 
Don’t diss the purebred dog community or your local kennel club. Network with them, maybe join up and help out a dog show (of any kind). You’ll actually learn a lot about dogs, learn about dog breeds and types (thus helping with your identification process) and meet some nice folks ofttimes. Yes, there will some snotty people, but, come on, really. Think about it. There are some Seriously first-class, Grade A weirdos in the Rescue community as well.
 
In short, if you are going to cross-post, broaden your horizons to beyond your Facebook Page.
Just my opinion.
©2012 Mia Knerly-Hess

Cat (and Dog) Training, Part 1

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Since it’s looking more and more like Dink and Envy are going to be permanent residents here, it’s way past time to make them a part of the household and that involves Feliaway, (which we’ve been doing for a while) and making their lives better. By “better” I mean more enriched and incorporated.
 
I still have a fair amount of resigned resentment about doing this but basically they’re nice cats overall and they certainly deserve to have a good life. This whole cat thing also involves getting Artie in particular to stop being an a**hole when he hears the cats scuttling across the floor. I should have done this when I first got him but I kept figuring the two cats would be gone and all we’d have to deal with is laid-back Rufus. I thought wrong. Ten months have passed. It’s time to get on the stick.
 
Frankly, I think “training” a cat is kind of an exercise in frustration and futility.
 
Socializing, yes. To be sure. Dink and Envy are friendly cats. They have been messed with since they were wee babies. If people come in the house, they are happy to see you and hang out with you. You can brush them and clip their nails with little protest.
 
Rufus, not so much. He runs away from almost everybody, even the Spousal Unit. who picked him out, by the way. I am the exception. Then he becomes a whiny, “I’m waking you up in the morning because you have to mess with my food bowl” kind of guy. He’s very demanding, and it’s always on his terms.
 
Exercising cats? To a large extent, I see the merits and benefits of that!
 
Getting a cat to use its “hunting skills” to get its food from a cat food toy? Uh, No.
 
I got an Fun-Kitty Egg-cersizer from my trainer friend, Jen. (I have a lot of respect for and trust in her. So if she says, “Let’s do this,” I’m going to try it!)
 
Great, I’ll try stuff! It was cheap. Good thing I got it from her because neither the Pet Supplies Plus in Stow or the PetSmart at Chapel Hill had ANY Cat Food Toys. And at both places, they looked at me like I was some crazy broad hallucinating on LSD when I even asked about stuff like that. (I should have called first.) So no second Egg thing. I guess if I’m going to continue trying this, I’ll have to get it online.
 
So we have good news and bad news….
 
The Bad News (and you can see it on Envy’s face) is The Egg has been a huge bust. Alas. Maybe I need more of them but this is what I was afraid of…. none of these cats will eat any kind of food off the bare floor. I tried rattling The Egg, playing with The Big. Look at the picture and you’ll see a piece of food right there by Envy’s chest. He’s looking at it. I even showed it to him! I even tried giving it to him! He gave me the, “Are you f—g crazy, lady?” look. (And yes, cats do use the F word. Frequently. Like no other creature on earth.)
 
It Was Not Happening.
 
In the past, even if their food bowls are completely empty, and there are food pieces near the bowl on the floor, they’ll remain untouched. Envy did whack at The Egg, I saw them do it, food spilled out on the floor in their room but no interest in eating off the floor. None. Zip. Zilch.
 
“We are cats, We eat out of bowls, you lowly peasant.”
 
Taking the food bowls up caused a whole bunch of pacing, meowing and restlessness from all three cats. Nobody settled down and took naps in the afternoon which is unusual.. The first night, I took Dink and Envy’s food bowl up and put The Egg down. Luckily they didn’t cry all night but they also didn’t eat. That’s not a big deal, going a while without food; she (Dink) in particular is overweight.

 
I shut Rufus in the basement with his food to give the other cats some time with The Egg. As I said, they even get the Egg at night in their room. The food was not eaten. I tried adding some treats and it’s not tempting them, I guess. None of them “do’ treats anyway.


When I did try the Egg down in the basement where Rufus’ bowls and the other litter box is, there was one huge pile of kitty food throw-up next to the Egg with food pieces in it. I think one of them may have tried it but I wonder if eating the food off the basement floor made them sick. There’s no way to really clean that floor safely for animals….. it’s concrete. I guess I could move food and water up to the first floor, not sure where to put it though.
 
The Good News: Dink and Envy enjoy playing with a laxer light a lot. Marty’s really good at it and he gets them going. It’s pretty funny! I’ll play with a feather toy up in their room and then give them a bit of wet food afterwards. Rufus has no interest in the laser light, it actually kind of freaks him out. But we did get him to play with a feather toy for a few minutes Friday and Saturday. That was kind of cool!
 
We have clear French doors from the den (dog area) to the dining room which has for months had a curtain over the windows. I did this because I got tired of having a**hole, fixated dogs staring, barking, carrying on at the French doors all damn day long.
 
Upon Trainer Jen’s advice, I did the “curtain up” thing while Marty played with a cat toy in the dining room, All Elke cared about was that I had treats, Artie was super fixated on the cats in the other room because they were being active, so I c/t’ed every time he turned his head away. I started by saying his name, then c/t the moment he turned away from the French Doors. I didn’t do it long, about 5 minutes then I closed the curtain. At first he didn’t want much to do with treats at all, “OHMYGOD, THERE ARE CAT-things THERE! WHOOOOA, WHEEEE!”
 
Meanwhile Elke is practically pooping her silly self with excitement at the mere suggestion of FOOD!!
 
The cats are evil. All cats are evil, I’m convinced. They come by the den door in the kitchen. Any self-respecting dog is going to KNOW they’re out there. Consequently Artie’s still really fixated by the den door, he jumps up but it usually starts with Elke’s “boof-roo-roo-roo” bark B.S. And that can be anything from she hears Marty messing around to she hears the cats or something “not right.” It seems like she starts stuff and then he gets all wound up.
 
Not sure how to fix that one, because it’s mostly her. At first. Interesting.
 
This is gong to be a long, relatively sucky process. But it could be so much worse. So far, we don’t have cats spraying and horrible crap like that.