Such sickness I wouldn’t wish on a dog, except maybe if it would make him sleep for a while
By Gina Spadafori
November 21, 2007
OK, I’m back among the living. You know you’re busy when you realize being sick has an “up” side: 1) You get more sleep; and 2) You can engage in frivilous reading without guilt. Also: Chicken soup.
You know how some pets are happy just to hang out with you, and seem to worry about what’s wrong with you, and how they want to make it all better? And how some can’t figure out why you are staying in bed when you could be doing something fun?
My guys are split into both camps. And Clara is split herself, probably because she’s just enough of a kitten to not yet behave like a cat.
McKenzie, my 3-year-old retriever, is the snuggliest. Drew, my 10-year-old Sheltie, is the most worried. Heather, 11-year-old retriever, was relieved when my friend Bob came to take everyone for a run, because she was tolerating my inactivity but was clearly bored.
Any guesses as to which of the dogs would not take, “no, I don’t feel like playing, you moron” for an answer?
Yep, the newest member, Pip the shepherd-border collie from hell. He dropped toys on me, nosed toys at me, looked at toys and then looked pointedly at me, AND, when that didn’t work, tried to do the same with the good dogs … and the cat!
Any guesses as to which of the dogs spent a lot of time in a crate these last couple of days?
Poor Pip. Fortunately the weekend is long and the weather here will be nice.
***
Thoughtful reads, elsewhere …
Over on Lassie Get Help, Luisa has been writing up a storm again, with great reading on what’s wrong with blue dogs, why people who love pit bulls should love them enough not to breed (most of) them, and a completely different take on the Congo situation. … Pet Connection BFF Dr. Patty Kuhly has too many great posts to list individually, so I’ll select just one, about the issue (which Christie discussed here) of whether veterinarians “guilt” people into spending more on pet care. … Over on Border Wars, Christopher jumps into the fray over whether the only good border collie is a working stock dog … Our Pet Connection colleague Susan Tripp points out a blog post on whether or not animals have self-awareness, from the Seattle P-I’s Daily Biscuit blog. … and Itchmo has a bunch o’ fine news items, as always.
You really didn’t want to work today, did you?
And oh yes, I’ll be posting transcripts of Christie’s interviews with Nathan Winograd and Richard Avanzino, plus the material I typed from the panel on the pet-food recall at the Cat Writers Assoc. conference. (The typing has gaps where I wouldn’t shut up from the audience and finally moderator Dusty Rainbolt made me come up and sit on the panel. Try live-blogging a panel in which you’re participating, some time!)
Finally, buy our autographed books. I have to see family for Thanksgiving and could use the burst of self-esteem.
Glad you’re feeling better, Gina. Try magnesium for back spasms.
Will stick my neck out yet again and defend Congo. No one is saying that this man wasn’t attacked and deserves to have his medical expenses paid - however, do we really know that this guy didn’t provoke the dog in some way? All we have is his word which may or may not be credible. I say this because I know of an elderly chow in his own yard attacked by the meter reader. The dog was just sitting there, and the guy decided to take some “preventive measures.”
Have a good Thanksgiving. Looking forward to the pet food info.
Comment by Carol — November 21, 2007 @ 11:27 am
Yay Gina. I’m glad you’re feeling better. I pulled my back out twice in college and once since. I too thought death would be a kind alternative, and was rather amazed/appalled how crippled I was once the muscles started to spasm.
It must be what it’s like to be a turtle on your back, except any attempt to move an arm or a leg or your head brings the sharp shooting pain. It’s also a blow to the ego to go from able adult to incapacitated infant in a flash.
Anyway, thanks for the link and I hope the chicken soup and hot showers are doing the trick. You’ll need it to survive Thanksgiving at less than 100% capacity. (You can always tell them that Pip ate the bird and the dressing and so you’ll have to demure this year, see you next year!)
Comment by Christopher — November 21, 2007 @ 11:54 am
Hey, Gina, glad you’re slowly getting back into the routine. No fun - wouldn’t wish back problems on my worst enemy.
About Congo……..Who KNOWS what was said and how it was understood. If nothing else, it points to the necessity of EVERYONE in this country speaking fluently the English language.
Too, as I understand it, Congo wasn’t hauled into doggie prison until the day after Rivera’s surgery and decision to hire a lawyer.
That said, I’m still pulling for Congo.
Comment by Lynn — November 21, 2007 @ 12:54 pm
Tks Gina for posting link to Congo viewed from a different angle.
Like I posted before , my sympathy is for Congo and Mr. Rivera. Not the James family.
There has been very biased reporting on this IMO. I still consider the Jameses and their lawyers spin artists and preying on favorable public opinion.
Insinuating that Mr. Rivera got chewed up because of lack of fluent English is pretty low. That did not stop Roy James(Guy’s brother) from hiring him for his landscaping business. Mr. Rivera did not nearly get enough for his terrible injuries. Wonder if the lawyer that chased him in the hospital is a buddy of the James family. There is an awful lot more to this story.
Comment by Serijna — November 21, 2007 @ 2:09 pm
If you need a good example of how the BC war is still going on, the yahoo lists are the perfect place to experience it. As long as the discussion is over mundane things like how to stop your dog from eating poop, everything is fine.
But the second AKC/ABCA or any other political issue like rescue, breeding ethics, DNA testing, diet, etc. is mentioned, the fangs come out. That’s why there are so many BC related lists and why even lists with hundreds of members only have 4 or 5 people who post regularly, when one group is exiled from the old list because of the moderator’s bias, they start a new group and most people lurk lest they be censored or kicked off. I suspect that’s the reason you left the list. The same old mantra and bias gets old after a short while.
I’m sure plenty of PetConnetion readers can sympathize with their own experiences on breed lists and breeder vs. rescue vs. no-kill or raw-food lists. The yahoo lists are highly charged and political to the extreme and few of them are open for debate. They prefer mutual admiration.
Really now, you try talking dog politics on a listserv and see how long you last if you’re not the a friend of the moderator or of like mind.
I don’t recall being trounced by anyone on the BC-L list, especially not anyone who “really” knows about Border Collies. Reading over the e-mails, I fail see what you’re referring to. Frankly I was impressed by how little most of the people knew about basic things like genetics.
There are several posts from partisans that say nasty things about me after I left, but the crux of them was that I must be a liar because they mistakenly claim that I registered my current dog with the (no defunct) AIBC. Not surprisingly, all of those posts failed to read clearly, since I was obviously discussing a dog that was born two decades ago, NOT my current dogs.
I stopped with the yahoo lists after an anonymous person started sending hate mail to my breeders along with falsified things I supposedly wrote. It took too much trouble to get my breeders to read the actual posts to see that I said no such things; too much trouble to bother with people who had already made up their minds. When they have to resort to lies and nasty tangential attacks, they obviously can’t deal with the real arguments in an honest way.
But the whole reason I started my own blog was because of the positive response I got from people on the listservs who were tired of hearing only one side vs. the other. I think my neutral position, skeptical of both groups is novel and balanced compared to the herding-only vs. conformation-only tone of the listservs.
You’re welcome to actually read what I have to write and comment on my blog instead of posting vague insults here.
PetConnection is a nice place to read because of the diversity of their viewpoints. I can read about purebred dogs being shown in field trials and conformation and then read an informative piece about pet rescue in the next post. Such diversity of opinion is not welcome on the listserv, and isn’t that really why you and I are here and not there?
Happy Thanksgiving.
Comment by Christopher — November 22, 2007 @ 2:10 pm
Just a reminder to discuss issues, not individuals… thanks and Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Comment by Christie Keith — November 22, 2007 @ 2:33 pm