Pitbull Burned in NC Fire Available for Adoption

Reminder: This blog is now living at yesbiscuit.wordpress.com

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A Mother in NC left 4 kids home alone 2 weeks ago with a Pitbull puppy in a crate. The house caught fire and firefighters were able to save a 4 year old and a 7 year old but were sadly too late to save the two babies in the home. A neighbor mentioned there was a dog inside and firefighters rescued her from the flames:

The 8-month-old pit bull suffered third-degree burns.

[...]

"All this is scarring," [veterinary technician Sandy] Gainey said, pointing to burns on the dog. "She was in pretty rough shape. Wherever you see no hair is where she was burned. And if you look at her ears, they're crinkled because of the burns and the scarring."

Gainey said that Phoenix could lose an ear because of the damage. Despite all the pain, Gainey said the dog is a sweetheart.

Local animal control has been caring for Phoenix but transferred her to another shelter for adoption since they are legally prohibited from adopting out Pitbulls. The 7 year old child has visited with the dog and will continue to do so after adoption. There is a video at the link of this dog's gentle demeanor while receiving veterinary care for what must be incredibly painful burns. She will make some new owner very happy I'm sure.

Thank you to the firefighters who saved her from a horrible death and to the local animal welfare community for making sure the dog will have a chance to be adopted.

Hector Rules

Hector, a rescued Pitbull formerly owned by that courageous hero Michael Vick, visited school kids in MN this week to help educate them about the breed. The article doesn't tell a whole lot but the accompanying photo is worth a thousand words. Maybe next week, Hector can teach the Eagles about real courage.

SC: Robbers Steal Kids' Presents and Pet

Do not pass go, do not collect $200, just go straight to hell:

Amanda Henderson did not weep when she talked about the items someone took from her home, including the Christmas gifts she had purchased for her 13-year-old son.

But she wept when she talked about the 2-year-old family dog, a pit bull named Mala, the thieves had taken along with everything else.

Now what makes Mala so special, above and beyond the many stolen items?

Henderson, a U.S. Army staff sergeant, said that of all the possessions taken, the family pet matters the most.
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Henderson, 33, said she and her husband, Patrick, purchased Mala in 2008 while the two were stationed in Nacogdoches, Texas.

Mala is special, she said, because within two months of the time they bought her, Patrick was gone.

"He passed away in September 2008," she said. "Because of that, Mala is beyond special to me and my son."

So to recap, these thieves broke into the home of a military family serving our country, took their stuff including the kid's Christmas presents - a kid whose father died just a year ago - and stole the family pet, whose sentimental value can not be measured.

The scumbags did leave two things behind that they brought with them so hopefully that will aid police in their investigation. Beyond that, to quote John Lennon, "Instant karma's gonna get you".

"Here lies one who loved us and whom we loved."

If you've ever loved a dog, or a kid, you should read this story from the Dogkisser blog.




Title from Eugene O'Neill.

Al Franken Meets a Service Dog

I got a bit choked up watching this vid featuring Senator Al Franken (D-MN) talk about the event that inspired him to draft service dog legislation for our veterans.

I Wish Al Franken was My Senator

Al Franken (D-MN) has got his first piece of legislation - the Service Dogs for Veterans Act - on the President's desk:

The Veterans Administration would develop partnerships with organizations that provide disabled veterans with service dogs. Franken said he introduced the legislation after meeting a veteran who said his service dog improved his quality of life.

He said the measure will cost about $5 million and is designed to not edge out non-profits doing similar work.

"The government is going to pay for essentially every other dog. What I didn't want to happen was to dry up the funding for the organizations like Hearing and Service Dogs in Minneapolis and all of these non-profits who have been providing dogs to some vets."

Awesome! A rookie Senator getting bipartisan support (from some very wishy-washy Senators I might add) for his first piece of legislation, Franken says:

"There is evidence to suggest that increasing the number of service dogs would reduce the alarming suicide rate among veterans, decrease the number of hospitalizations, and lower the cost of medications and human care. We’re talking about a real return on investment that will pay dividends for these veterans for years to come.”

We often feel spurred to action when we disagree with the words and deeds of our elected officials. But we should thank them when they do good too. Why not take a moment to thank Senator Franken for recognizing the significance of the human-canine bond and its beneficial effects on the lives of our brave service men and women?

Paws Down and Paws Up

One of my pet peeves is the nonsense about never feeding table scraps to pets:

Giving your pet table scraps isn't recommended for a couple of reasons. Pets like people food better than dog or cat food (who wouldn’t?), but human food is made for a humans dietary needs.

First the admission that no pet in his right mind wouldn't enjoy eating real food that humans eat more than a processed pet food product. Followed by the stunning conclusion that human food is made for humans. To my mind, food is food. Granted there are some foods consumed by certain species which would be inappropriate for other species (I'm thinking grasses for example). But regarding humans and their domesticated pets, food is food. If you watch TV pet food commercials or look at the packaging on some pet food products, you'll notice the images featured are those of beef, carrots, oats, etc. In other words, "human" food. And if you read the ingredient list on a pet food product, you'll find a list of "human" foods.

Furthermore, "human food" is not "made" - unless you are referring to highly processed foods. Beef that humans eat is simply cuts of meat from cows. Carrots are grown in gardens and oats grow in fields (often steam rolled after harvesting for human consumption). My point being that "human food" is basically edible stuff humans eat - and share with their domesticated pets. Which makes it just "food" then, doesn't it?

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Unrelated: I read a nice article this morning that I could relate to and thought many of you might enjoy too:

How to not feel bad about once being a bad dog owner

"You've got a super dog"

A shop in VA Beach has a resident dog - a one year old Pitbull named Rico. On Sunday, two armed men entered the store (presumably to rob it) and shot Rico in the head. Despite his wound, Rico acted on the threat and protected his humans, allowing them to escape:

“I know for a fact he saved our lives,” said Chuck Smellinger, 34, one of the shop’s owners. “It was amazing, because I’ve never seen him act out aggressively.”
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“The vet said, 'You’ve got a super dog,’” said owner Christopher Selby, 31, who adopted Rico a few weeks ago from his previous owner, who couldn’t care for him anymore.
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Rico’s heroic act speaks well for pit bulls, especially because he didn’t attack first, Smellinger said.

“Anyone who has a pit bull and doesn’t fight it will tell you they’re the smartest, coolest dogs,” Selby said. “It’s 100 percent the image and the owner and the socialization and how they’re raised.”

Rico will make an appearance at Saturday’s fundraiser [to help cover vet bills], sporting a sparkling “bling-bling” collar, Selby said. “He’ll be treated like a hero for the rest of his life.”

All the bling you can handle for the rest of your days Rico! And let's hope they catch the cowards who brandished guns in the store and shot the hero dog.

Bright Light in a Dark Place

Best Friends has a post up about Shelia Carlisle, one of the volunteers who cared for the Wilkes Co dogs.  She and her fellow vols did the best they could for those dogs, knowing there was little chance they'd be allowed to live, even if they survived the terrible conditions at the "undisclosed location" (warehouse) where they were hidden away.  Shelia gives us a glimpse into those conditions, the individual personalities of the dogs and the heartbreak of having them all killed:

The dogs were taken to an undisclosed location at the beginning of December and held for months as evidence in a warehouse. 

During this time dozens of puppies were born and Shelia and her colleagues helped care for all the dogs including the precious pups.
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From the diseases spread from being in cramped, damp and dark accommodations to the fact that they were pit bulls from a known dog fighting breeder; the chances were slim that any of the animals would ever be able to live a happy life with a family that loved them. This reality did not deter Shelia and the others from their mission of giving them the love and support that they deserved.

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It was a daunting task, as puppies were being born, they were quickly getting sick and some were dying even though they had the care of three different veterinarians. Shelia and three other people worked diligently to get the puppies as much individual attention and nurturing as possible . They were taking puppies to foster homes, while the other dogs at the warehouse were not allowed to leave the building. The dogs were not going outside – so much of the day consisted of cleaning and changing bedding and arranging the dog kennels to help alleviate as much stress as possible. 

“The protocol for handling the puppies was extremely inadequate: there was almost no natural light, no whelping boxes, and it was cold and damp. We had kerosene space heaters, but they would run out of fuel in the middle of the night. We were doing everything we could to make them comfortable, but it was so hard. We were cleaning constantly.”
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There was Angel, a favorite of one of the hired handlers/security staff. Angel would sit with her paws up and rest her chin on them. She was so well behaved, she was just a sweet dog. 

As Shelia recounted the individual personalities of the dogs she started to choke up. The individual dogs have touched her heart in a way that the authorities never took the time to understand. 

“Once they learned to trust us they quickly came around, it was obvious these were good dogs. You could pick up a young dog or puppy and he would put his paws around your neck and would love to be held and hugged.”

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“Knowing now that pit bull dogs are seized from dog fighters only with the intention of killing those dogs without even giving a single one of them a chance, sickens me.” Shelia sadly related. “The dogs are the victims and should be saved…not doomed.”

Doomed by the HSUS, to be precise.  Thank you to Shelia and the other volunteers who offered the dogs comfort amidst the misery.  The HSUS succeeded in their effort to have all the dogs, including 19 puppies still nursing from their dams, killed but they could not kill the integrity of compassionate volunteers who care about dogs.  There's more of us than there are of them.  HSUS and its barbaric Pitbull policy of seize and destroy is not representative of the attitudes and beliefs of real dog lovers in this country.  We are the true humane society and we want every bust dog to receive a fair evaluation by a qualified individual - obviously that would exclude any involvement from the HSUS, who have gone on record repeatedly, and as recently as last week, stating that all bust dogs must die.  The HSUS has way too much Pitbull blood on their hands at this point to be considered part of the solution to the problem they created.  Time to get out of the way HSUS and allow our humane society to help Pitbulls in need. 

H/T to EmilyS for the link about Ms. Carlisle.

Pitbull Hero Helps Save 11 People

In MA this week:

A dog is being credited with helping to save eleven people in Southbridge from a fire in a multi-family home. Firefighters say the dog woke up the people living there. Sadly the heroic dog didn't make it out alive.

The fire broke out early Wednesday morning. An eleven month old Pitbull named Chaos helped save 11 people from the the building.

Fire crews from five different towns battled the blaze for 90 minutes before they put it out. Family and friends are hailing Chaos the dog as a hero.

If you are a MA resident, please contact your state House representative in support of S2624 which will prohibit breed specific legislation in the state.

Animals: I Luv Dem

I rather enjoy pieces of the "Then and Now" genre and came across this one on the human-animal bond. I thought some of you might enjoy it too. Here's a snippet:

One hundred years, we used to speak of 'breaking' horses to being ridden by a person. Today we speak of 'gentling' horses to being handled and ridden by people who consider horses as companions. In the last 20 years, a veterinarian, Dr. Robert Miller, has helped to change the horse industry by demonstrating that imprint training of a foal in the first several hours and days after birth can increase lifelong gentle responsive behavior of horses to people and environmental stimuli. Today, with scientific understanding of natural behavior, we are seeing a revolution among horse trainers to accept kinder, gentler methods to manage behavior of horses.

Today we have multinational and multicultural recognition of the mutual benefits of the human animal bond to health and spirit. Animals offer companionship—someone to talk to who will not criticize. They are living responding beings to touch or hug with emotion. Animals keep us alert and help fulfill our need to nurture and comfort others.

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Image: Hama, a Jindo dog in Korea who learned to perform Buddhist prayer rituals alongside monks. The temple is home to dozens of stray dogs.

For more info on the Jindo Dog, aka National Treasure #53 of the South Korean Government (!), clicky.