If I Could, This is What I Would Do With My Life

The people @ Seer Farms take pets and board them for individuals or families who cannot afford regular boarding fees and who have lost their homes, can't find pet friendly housing, or just need temporary boarding for their pets because of the economy or life changes.  This is a wonderful effort and actually sounds like it might be a workable charity idea?  Since my husband calls me Ellie Maye Clampett anyway and insists we only have one little dog @ a time (we can have a big dog too but we haven't found the perfect one, anyone have a giant bichon?  LOL) I can't do this but it's a GREAT idea for someone who is looking to channel a love of animals into a worthwhile endeavor.  Seer Farms was recently featured in a USA Today article,  the article is an excellent read about a couple on the way to deliver their first child looking for pet boarding.....

Once again one of my favorite rescues.....smallpawsrescue.org has a new bichon finder.....OK, pet finder, Pets911.  Pretty cool huh?  I found Ice close to my home,

OK not ice a Bichon puppy named Ice who was turned in to the shelter from a commercial breeder because he was TOO BIG!  4.5 lb and he was born 7/12/10, now I'm not too sure what Dispatch (my bichon) was when he was that old but I'm pretty sure it was over 4.5 lb.  In other words this dog may weigh 25 lb when grown, but that is really stretching it.  Dispatch used to weigh 17 and he is like at the top of the size for show bichons....he's a mutt though.  Anyway Ice is available for Adoption from Thistle Hills Rescue, in Birch Tree, MO. 

Chase - rescued the day she was scheduled to be euthanized (video By Eld...

A beautiful case of dog rescue. Thank you so much for the rescue and adoption. Please give this you tube video a look and follow the author.

Robeson County Animal Shelter In North Carolina Euthanized Animals Without Allowing Adoption!!!

Link to Article about a North Carolina's seemingly senseless and cruel euthanasia policy.

Quotes:
The suit alleges that Bass euthanized a dog in April after Barrett told him she planned to adopt it. Barrett was waiting in the parking lot when Bass killed the dog, and Bass knew she was there, the suit claims. Other animal rescue groups signed on to the suit make similar allegations.


In 2009, the rural shelter took in more than 5,100 stray cats and dogs, according to county records. Of those, more than 4,500 of the animals - roughly 88 percent - were euthanized.


The shelter's hold policy doesn't require a window for pet adoptions. After giving owners 120 hours to claim a lost pet, the animals can be put down without ever being up for adoption. The Robeson County shelter also will not release the animals to foster homes during the hold period, even though a 2009 state law allows for such an arrangement, Gerber said.


In 2001, animal advocates released an undercover video showing shelter workers heart-sticking dogs and cats without giving them anesthesia. The method is said to be extremely painful if the animal is not sedated. Various versions of the video have attracted hundreds of thousands of online views in recent months and seemed to galvanize animal rights activists from across the nation.



Bass, the shelter's manager for eight years, has received the brunt of the criticism. Bass has said that animal advocates have left phone messages threatening to kill him. Others have posted Facebook messages calling him a murderer.
Joan E. Loza Mobry of Wisconsin has led the online charge against Bass. She said in a phone interview Friday that her "life mission" is to see Bass put in prison. Loza Mobry said she'll have to pursue her goal from afar.
"I have to," she said, "because if I ever came face to face with Jeff Bass, I would probably do something I would go to prison for."

End Quote

If these accusations are true these people at the shelter make me ashamed to be the same species as they are.  I don't think I can make that any clearer.  


The Roebson County Animal Shelter lists animals on Petfinder.   At the present time there are 59 animals listed for adoption.  This is AFTER they supposedly cleaned up their act.  If 2010 is like 2009 that's 485 animals a month.  Perhaps a great deal have been adopted and rescued by their owners but with their former policies that seems unlikely?  So we are safe in saying they have needlessly put 1000 animals to death this year?  What got me about the whole deal is they seemed to work AGAINST people adopting animals, they would rather kill them.

Sign Petition For Animal Shelters, Philadelphia Eagles To Match Vic's Salary To Shelters?

OK, heres the deal. Michael Vic is going to play for the Philadelphia Eagles right? (You'd have to be living under a rock to not know that) The political action group DogPac is asking the Philadelphia Eagles to match Michael Vic's salary in donations to local animal shelters. 6.6 million dollars over two years would go pretty far toward animal shelters I think. I learned about this from Tanks Blog and from Loving For A Living. The site for to send emails and sign the petition (also donate if you wish) is HERE.

For those of you who know how longwinded I can get this will amaze you. This is my email to the Philadelphia Eagles Owner or rather what I added onto their email.

Basically it says below, hey dude, do what is fair, they guy screwed up, you hired him back, the animals that he harmed and others need a second chance too. Here's your chance.

Take a little time, help out our animal shelters, our dog and cat friends (children) in these tough times. Go sign the petition, email, donate or just donate to your local shelter or consider a dog for adoption or a cat?

I won't be on much for awhile, I am migrating to animalsthatgivepause.com but I have like real work to do too (paperwork and accounting, bah humbug) and I'm trying to follow blogs a little too, cook, and clean, and all that dull nasty stuff.

Labradoodle or Portuguese Water Dog for the Obama's?

OK, I admit I posted this in January the first time but since the Obama's haven't gotten a dog yet ( OK, he's been sort of busy with GM and those conferences in London and Iran and all and she's been busy hugging the Queen and denying pregnancy rumors, I LIKE Michelle OK! ) but I'm dying to find out what they do choose, I still think the labradoodle looks like a lanky bichon? But there are those who say labradoodle isn't a breed so they should stick to the Portuguese Water Dog? What's your opinion?

Link to the white Labradoodle puppy breeder Copper Canyon Labradoodles.

To me the labradoodle looks like a lanky bichon but maybe I am just a little touched about bichons?

The other choice is a Portuguese Water Dog, I think this is Teddy Kennedy's choice? The picture above is from the American Kennel Club, don't want to get into trouble.

They both seem like nice dogs. Good rambunctious dogs. Not foo foo dogs like Obama said he didn't want.

OK, we have a foo foo dog but he's just really cute and cuddly, let him think something is attacking mama and he turns into the tazmanian devil. One night I heard Skeeter the terrier fussing out by the bar-b-que grill. Seems a possum had made it's way under the grill, opossums are not known for their speed or being particulary ferocious so I decided I either had to get it out of there or kill it to make Skeeter shut up. I got a shovel and managed to get le possum on it and drag it out from under the grill. Dispatch wasn't very old, less than a year but when the possum came out and snarled he threw himself on it teeth barred and growling because le possum was coming toward beloved mama. Well duh, if I have a shovel and am pulling le possum toward me it's going to get closer. Opossum left the shovel and the yard with a bouncy white butt in close pursuit and a black slow butt behind that (Skeeter).
Foo foo dog also shows no mercy when confronted with strange dogs in his yard. I've seen him chase huge hounds off and a blue heeler. I'm standing there actually calling the blue heeler and Dispatch catches sight of him and it's bar the door Katie. A little white cotton fluff ball heading down the hill in hot pursuit of a VERY scared blue heeler. Just didn't make sense to me, maybe the blue heeler thought the q-tips had gone mad or it was a ghost?

Anyway all the best of luck to the Obama's with their puppy.

And if you are considering adopting go here for a list of dogs just waiting to be glad to see you when you walk in the door. There was an article in People I believe that said pets turned into shelters are on the rise but adoptions are also on the rise. Think about it. You could have a dog beside you whining to go out to his cat friends so he can chase them like I do?

Cynthia The Lost Peacock

Here's the link to the cnn story.

Seems that a peacock or peahen as she's called because she is a female is living by the Sheriffs department in Marion County OR, the picture is of a male from the national geographic website but Cynthia is a beautiful bird and I don't like birds. I admit it, I'm bird phobic.

Cynthia showed up Saturday on the property next to the Sheriffs office and the cops have tried to find her owner or get an animal welfare agency to take her to no avail. She is eating bugs and drinking from a well but people have started to drop off water for her. She seems determined to watch over the police headquarters. They say they can't keep her because the groundskeeper wouldn't like to clean up after her but she eats bugs and I'm sure she keeps an eye out for intruders, what more could they want?

We actually did have peacocks @ one time, raised them in the chicken coop till they were older and they gradually stopped coming in for the night. Coyotes are thick around here and we figured that was what happened to them BUT one day while mushroom hunting in the woods on scared the daylights out of me flying up in front of me, perhaps they survived? This was 30 years ago so I'm sure they are long gone now. But Cynthia's story caught my eye, she's such a cute bird.

Kosovo Seargeants Give Their Boys Surprise Puppies

Here's the link.

The picture above is the two puppies before the family got there.

A husband and wife who are Sergeants in the National Guard recently returned from Kosovo. The father saw a litter of 8 lab puppies on petfinder @ the Stover Animal Shelter and emailed them about keeping two of the puppies for their boys, who are 10, 6, and 5. The boys had NO idea what was going on when they went to Stover. It's all in the article. This animal shelter is my pet charity, pun intended. Carol Sue Wiegel mentioned in the article is the local real estate agent and her primary volunteer is one of my oldest friends, Brenda Cook, she emailed this to me:

About 2 months ago a army guy e-mailed us from Kosovo. He had seen our pets on petfinder, and was interested in some lab pups we had ( 8 ) of them. He has 3 little boys and had promised them a dog when he returned, he really wanted 2 of them but wanted us to keep 2 for him for 2 months until he returned. Well of course we did and he got home last Tuesday, and came for the pups this Monday, his boys new nothing about this, it was a surprise for them. He brought his family down and you should of seen the look on those kids faces they are 10, 7 and 5, they went crazy!! they named thier dogs Scarlett and Duke. The Sedalia paper was there and so was KRCG tv Jefferson City. Great Press and did a good thing too!

I LOVE stories like this.

Valentines Day for Dogs

The story of a dog named Darby, link below.

http://www.smallpawsrescue.org/pup3/feb1209.html

Ok, we have valentines for people why not dogs? I am extremely prejudiced I know because I own a bichon and a lab but today with the economy the way it is and all why not do something truly loving for yourself, your family, and one of our furry friends. Think about adopting a dog.
You can go here, for a bichon or you can type in your breed preference and zip code on the left hand side to see other breeds. (Such as Labradors?)

300 Dogs Rescued From North Carolina Puppy Mill

Three hundred dogs were rescued Friday from a puppy mill in North Carolina. The dogs were mainly Lhasa Apso, Shih-Tzus and Chihuahuas.
The link is here to the complete story.
The animals were housed in unheated unventilated outbuildings without proper medical care or socialization.
Being an animal lover and perhaps letting my animals run a little too freely I just can't understand how people can treat dogs like this.
If you have room in your heart and home for a dog please consider adopting a rescue dog.

John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and a missing model from the 60s?

You ask what in the world does this have to do with animals. Well guess what I'll tell you. Seems this model caught the eye of John and Yoko, she did a film entitled "Rape" with Yoko and John. Rape was about the invasion of cameras into everyday lives.
Eva Rhodes is the missing woman's name and after her divorce from a British architect she went to Hungary and established the Puss in Boots Animal Trust. Eva is now 65 and was last seen 4 months ago in the company of a young man she was recruiting for the animal sanctuary. Evidently the Hungarian police weren't ecstatic about the sanctuary and are just treating the disappearance as a missing persons case and Eva's family is unhappy that nothing has been done after 4 months, can't say as I blame them since there has been no evidence that Eva is still among the living.
Complete link here.
A story of Eva's animal sanctuary here. After reading this I'm wondering who is taking care of all of the animals?

To Die Alone

I couldn't find this quote from my one page web search. Well the quote that comes from the end of the story that makes up this post. I was going to write a big long post about my kittens and the 3 sets of orphans I have raised this summer/fall/winter but that will have to wait. I spent a good deal of the day on the phone talking to my husband who is waiting to get unloaded in OK city, he's driving his truck, he's not personally being unloaded. Even if you are just from MO you really don't appreciate Oklahoma aesthetics OK?
Anyway I wake up during the night, on a rare night I sleep through 8 hours, blessed, most nights I wake up @ least once, sometimes up to 4 times, I get up go to the bathroom and perhaps see what the weather is doing, sometimes I get on the computer for 10 minutes, you get the picture.
Well I've had to shut the door from the garage turned family room to the rest of the house because the kittens have discovered where I sleep clear @ the other end of the house. Their catbox is in the family room and also they disturb the dog which disturbs me and they take little side trips to the dining room and I'm finding bits of potpourri strewn about the house and the lace doilies and tablecloths are getting a pulled and rumpled look? So I shut the door @ night and part of the day. I'm in the family room when not asleep or cooking or cleaning anyway.
So I get up last night for like the 2nd time and start to go back to bed, I saw that the kittens food bowl was almost empty and thought everyone says I spoil them horribly because they are never without food and get either milk or canned food once a day. My daughter who is studying to be a vet assistant has even suggested my big cats are overweight?
So I start to go back to bed and even though the heat is on but turned down in the family room (we are talking animals with fur on them remember) and they have a comforter to snuzzle into on the couch and the plant light is on by the plants (also known as cat box #2 and #3 to them) they look @ me as I'm going to shut the door and it hits me they are thinking:
She has left us here in the cold and dark to die.......................alone.
So I give them the last 1/3 of a can of cat food and filled up the dried cat bowl and go back to bed. Dunno if it was the Stephen King short story collection or actual cat telepathy but the thought stuck with me. To die in the dark and cold, alone.
Of course it's possible they are just drama queens too?

Adopt a Boxer

You can find pets for adoption on moads4u or on the Stover Animal Control Website.
This is Miller, he is a boxer/lab mix with that special look that made me take my yellow puppy home when the last thing I thought I needed was a baby lab. Miller is beyond part of his puppy days but he still has that I wanna play look about him. Check him out or the other animals @ the websites.


More about Miller:
Nov. 5, Miller was an owner surrender. He does well on leash and gets along with everyone. He is partly house broken but needs work. The girl at the vet office said he never once made a mess in his run for the 24 hours he was there. He could not wait to get outdoors to go when I picked him up. His eyes have such a great expression. Adoption $75.00