Do You Know About the Humane Society of the United States?

Despite their deceptive tug-at-your heartstrings television ads featuring shelter animals, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) doesn’t operate a single pet shelter or adoption facility anywhere. The HSUS is NOT associated in any way with your local Humane Society. It does NOT provide local shelters with funding. In reality, the HSUS is a wealthy animal-rights lobbying organization (the largest and richest on earth) that crusades for the same goals as PETA and other radical groups. HSUS campaigns intentionally distort facts and misrepresent the organization as an animal welfare or animal protection group. They are neither.

"Progress: Evolution or Excess?"

An unusually plump issue of  Dogs in Review arrived in my mailbox today. This was the 2010 Annual issue, a cornucopia of recent canine social events. The glossy splendor of this latest production was carefully preserved in plastic wrap. The cover photograph revealed the "Dog of the Month", a Scottish Terrier. This stately lady won Best in Show at the Eukanuba National Championship show last month. She stands proudly at attention, with exaggerated  eyebrows spiked out and extending halfway down the muzzle, sharply pointed ears, and an artfully sculpted beard.  

I savor this magazine in the same way that I delight in a dog show. It's a decadent feast of eye candy; a taste of something that overflows with delight and drama; fraught with potential danger, yet, at the same time, so wickedly delicious!

The Top Ten List

Swedish Vallhund "Apollo"

SUBJECT: Top 10 things you will never hear an Animal Rightist say

10. Shelter dogs can have problems; they aren't for everyone.

9. Your animals are kind of a mess. I know you mean well so we're going to get you some help.

8. Mandatory spay/neuter is a lousy idea. If all dogs are sterilized, where will the puppies come from?

7. We're firing all the lobbyists and lawyers and we're going to put the money into training animal control workers, improving shelters, and organizing transport programs.

6. We're good at raising money but we don't know much about animals. If you want advice about animal policy, you should talk to an experienced breeder, rescuer, or farmer of that species.

5. Animals aren't human; only humans can have rights.

4. We have too many laws about animals. Most owners are trying to do the right thing anyway.

3. You're such a good breeder I wish you would have litters more often.

2. It's not the number of pets, it's the care.



And at the very top of the list:


1. We're going to be proposing a law to make it easier and more fun for people to own pets.

Walt Hutchens

Timbreblue Whippets

Gandhi; he's no Einstein

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”  Mohandas Gandhi

Wrong, dude.

This is one of those oft-repeated platitudes that is more a feel-good concept than it is a reflection of reality.

• The ancient Egyptians worshipped cats, yet practiced slavery.
• Indians esteem cattle, yet maintain an oppressive caste system.
• Nazi Germany pioneered the modern era of animals rights philosophy, but had no qualms about exterminating eleven million human beings.

What Planet Are You From, Anyway?

You'd have to be a cave-dweller to miss the media propaganda blitz about Global Warming....er, I mean Climate Change. We have reduced toxic industrial pollution here in the US to negligible levels. Plastic is passe (not biodegradable you know); we've Reduced, Reused and Recycled, so there isn't much left in the way of environmental guilt trips to lay at the feet of humanity. You'd think.

We needed some way to reinforce the basic precepts; that all men are created equal evil, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights responsibilities...but how??

Buzzwords, Revisited.

Just WHAT is a "puppy mill"?

A breeder who has “x” number of dogs and/or “x” number of litters? OK, who

decides how many “x” is? Has anyone noticed that the noose is tightening

and that it takes fewer and fewer dogs to be branded a puppy mill ? Or that

the definition doesn't just mean wire cages, feces, bred till they drop, and

all the rest? It's reaching out and touching all breeders, and it’s

spreading like a cancer. So now California is apparently "overrun" with

puppy mills. How many do you think there really ARE in this state, or even

in the entire country? Most of the true puppy mills are clustered in one

or two midwestern states. Everywhere else? Close to zero.

Blahg

Normally I don't blog just to blah-blah-blah. There's already plenty of that sort of activity out there in cyber-land! I like to ruminate a bit over an idea before I put pen to paper....er, I mean cursor to screen....and produce something that not only holds interest for the reader, but will also challenge some of the currently-held precepts of modern dog culture.


But as I am slowly released from the grip of the flu, and rejoin my canine companions, I feel the urge to shout joyfully to the heavens. So here is my jubilant howl..Woo-Hoo!  I once again have Time 4 Dogs!

Now, who can remain "blah" with faithful friends beside you, raptly anticipating your recovery?

Blahg?! No more!

Just Say "NO" to Terrorism

A guest blog from Diane Amble....thanks Diane! Beautifully stated.


I am aghast at the sugestions that WE fanciers provide and support ANY kind of model dog breeding laws!


Have you NO IDEA what "they" (unfriendly, clueless legislators with
heavy influence from ARs) will do to your "Model Law" before the vote?

They will slice it, dice it and poison it until it is your worse nightmare!

You THINK YOU can stop that from happening to your "Model Law"?

Black Helicopters

Dog fanciers....and yes that includes everyone who fancies their dog, for whatever reason or purpose...must stand together. There were thirty-plus states with restrictive legislation proposed (just in 2009) to limit our ability to own, breed or even simply keep the family dog intact because we so choose.

Where is everyone?

Four people showed up last night for a protest outside a home in Beverly Hills, where Pedro Nava, candidate for Lieutenant Governor, was holding a fundraiser. If you live in a cave somewhere and don’t know Nava’s position regarding anti-pet legislation (AB 241, anybody?), let me mention a few names from the guest list...Wayne Pacelle, Judie Mancuso, Rolf Wicklund... Need I go on?

Yesterday was the last SatuFour people showed up last night for a protest outside a home in Beverly Hills, where Pedro Nava, candidate for Lieutenant Governor, was holding a fundraiser. If you live in a cave somewhere and don’t know Nava’s position regarding anti-pet legislation (AB 241, anybody?), let me mention a few names from the guest list...Wayne Pacelle, Judie Mancuso, Rolf Wicklund... Need I go on?

Yesterday was the last Saturday before Christmas, and Nava and his buds must have realized a lot of people would have other commitments they couldn't get out of, so I do wonder if the date was a deliberate choice. And yes, I’ll admit I was one of those people, but the event also wasn't announced until a few days ago. Had I known earlier, I would never have accepted an alternate invitation. Believe me, I would LOVE to have been there - I still have the signs from the last one, so I would have been good to go, and the opportunity to sneer at the Navaland chimp and his parasites was hard to turn down.

But FOUR PEOPLE? In the entire Los Angeles area, only four people were willing and able to make the trek to Beverly Hills to fight for the future of our dogs?

It’s amazing to me, and incredibly disappointing, that all those dog show folks who moan about lack of money (but can afford those expensive dog magazine spreads and rising entry fees), or lack of time (but can take time off to get their butts to those dog shows), the ones who have yet to make it up to Sacramento even once (gas prices, ya know), who expect the few of us to handle everything for the rest of them (but don't even donate the cost of membership to the California Federation of Dog Clubs, PetPac, or any of the other groups that are doing so), the ones who will whine and complain the loudest when these laws hit them in the head like a two by four, the ones who, when they're not yapping on about their newest champions, upcoming litters, egotistical handlers, yada yada yada, while sitting ringside, munching on Doritos at their set up, or scouring the vendors for the latest grooming products, are self-righteously insisting they're out there fighting the big fight with the rest of us. Yeah, they've got the flyers, under that old issue of Dog News or Canine Chronicle or the Gazette. And the buttons? Got those too...somewhere in their tack box or on top of their crates or at home behind the grooming table...anywhere but on their lapels.

If it was just about them, I wouldn’t give a crap if they drowned in dog shampoo. What makes me the maddest is, if we lose this war, it will be BECAUSE of these people, the same ones who will blame US for not doing enough.

And while not entirely on the subject, it will be due to the divisive sniping of a few malcontents who apparently get their jollies cutting down the people who are actually in the fight with them.

And that's my sermon for a Sunday morning...

rday before Christmas, and Nava and his buds must have realized a lot of people would have other commitments they couldn't get out of, so I do wonder if the date was a deliberate choice. And yes, I’ll admit I was one of those people, but the event also wasn't announced until a few days ago. Had I known earlier, I would never have accepted an alternate invitation. Believe me, I would LOVE to have been there - I still have the signs from the last one, so I would have been good to go, and the opportunity to sneer at the Navaland chimp and his parasites was hard to turn down.

But FOUR PEOPLE? In the entire Los Angeles area, only four people were willing and able to make the trek to Beverly Hills to fight for the future of our dogs?

It’s amazing to me, and incredibly disappointing, that all those dog show folks who moan about lack of money (but can afford those expensive dog magazine spreads and rising entry fees), or lack of time (but can take time off to get their butts to those dog shows), the ones who have yet to make it up to Sacramento even once (gas prices, ya know), who expect the few of us to handle everything for the rest of them (but don't even donate the cost of membership to the California Federation of Dog Clubs, PetPac, or any of the other groups that are doing so), the ones who will whine and complain the loudest when these laws hit them in the head like a two by four, the ones who, when they're not yapping on about their newest champions, upcoming litters, egotistical handlers, yada yada yada, while sitting ringside, munching on Doritos at their set up, or scouring the vendors for the latest grooming products, are self-righteously insisting they're out there fighting the big fight with the rest of us. Yeah, they've got the flyers, under that old issue of Dog News or Canine Chronicle or the Gazette. And the buttons? Got those too...somewhere in their tack box or on top of their crates or at home behind the grooming table...anywhere but on their lapels.

If it was just about them, I wouldn’t give a crap if they drowned in dog shampoo. What makes me the maddest is, if we lose this war, it will be BECAUSE of these people, the same ones who will blame US for not doing enough.

And while not entirely on the subject, it will be due to the divisive sniping of a few malcontents who apparently get their jollies cutting down the people who are actually in the fight with them.

And that's my sermon for a Sunday morning...