pet connection

Just in from Best Friends:

A guardian/special master appointed by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia has recommended that 22 of the 48 American pit bull terriers connected with the Michael Vick civil forfeiture action be placed with Best Friends Animal Society ( www.bestfriends.org ).
 
A favorable ruling from U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson would mean that the dogs will be relocated from various shelters in the Virginia-Washington D.C. area to the animal sanctuary operated by Best Friends on 33,000 acres near the town of Kanab in southwestern Utah.
 
Valparaiso University School of Law Professor Rebecca J. Huss, in a Summary Report to the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, recommended that 47 dogs (one has been euthanized for medical reasons) be placed with eight organizations, with Best Friends receiving the most dogs (22). The next largest group would be placed with Bay Area Dog Lovers Responsible About Pit Bulls (BAD RAP) of Oakland, Calif. (10). Other organizations that would receive dogs are Richmond Animal League of Richmond, Va. (4); Georgia SPCA of Suwanee, Ga. (3); SPCA of Monterey County, Calif. (3); Recycled Love Inc. of Baltimore, Md. (3); Animal Rescue of Tidewater, Chesapeake, Va. (1); and PACK (Pit Bull Advocates for Compassion and Kindness), San Francisco, Calif. (1).
 
“We are hopeful that the court will grant Best Friends the opportunity to do what it does best—provide a caring, rehabilitative home for these abused, homeless animals,” said Paul Berry, chief executive officer of Best Friends. “They deserve the very best that we can give them, and we are prepared to provide a safe place for them to stay for the rest of their lives.”

I’ve been to Best Friends, and for animals who cannot be placed with families there are few better options. As for the rest of the groups taking dogs, well: Bully for stepping up!

Here’s the rest of the news release on the Best Friends Web site.

I love this. The founders of Bay Area Dog-Owners Responsible About Pit Bulls (BADRAP) dropped in with two of their dogs to a little speech and book-signing given in Berkeley, Calif., on behalf of PETA head Ingrid Newkirk.

Since the BADRAP folks knew PETA was raising money to “help” the Vick pit bulls while advocating that they be killed (along with all pit bulls, by the way, because it’s the only way to “help” these often abused dogs), they thought they’d ask Ms. Newkirk a couple of questions:

Tim mentioned that he was from Bad Rap and that it was interesting that Ingrid mentioned the Vick dogs, since she was publicly advocating that all the dogs be killed. He explained that we’ve been rescuing fight bust dogs for years and that some of them have been the best dogs we’ve ever met, and wanted to know how she could advocate that all the dogs be killed when she’d never met them.

Ingrid didn’t really answer Tim’s question. Instead, she began talking about Michael Vick being famous and about him funding the dogs, and said that she felt that the resources going to these dogs would be better spent on spay/neuter programs for all the dogs out there.

This of course made me wonder where PETA’s money raised by mentioning the Vick pit bulls is going, since it’s not going to the dogs. PETA hasn’t been shy about sending out newsletters about the Vick pit bulls and soliciting money, so if PETA’s objection to saving any of the pit bulls is that resources are better spent for spay/neuter, why don’t they use some of their collected resources for this program?

Go read the rest.

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.

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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.

I just love BAD RAP (Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls). These folks are passionate and yet realistic advocates for pit bulls, and they just won’t stop until people  understand that these dogs are not ”born to kill.”

Not to mention: The BAD RAP folks have a wicked sense of humor. Case in point: Their 2008 calendar.  With poster-dog pit bulls — and their tastefully naked owners.

Yup, naked.

From the ordering page:

If you’re a pit bull owner, no doubt you’ve become strangely accustomed to living under a microscope. We endure public scrutiny and condemnation for - of all things - enjoying a breed that’s been America’s sweetheart for over 150 years.

Our dogs are good teachers: They’ve taught us to strip down to the basics, ignore the naysayers and just…LIVE.

Celebrate the spirit of bold innocence with our BAD RAP Exposed 2008 Calendar, photographed on some of California’s most beautiful beaches. We’re proud to say that, freckles and all, pit bull owners have nothing to hide!

Ya gotta laugh. And ya oughtta order. Go.

Why is summer reading such a big deal? Winter is when I get all my big reading done.

When the weather is warm and the days are long, there’s always something great to do, usually with the dogs. Like hike along the river, work in the garden — all the animals help with that — visit with friends on the patio over pizza. Who wants to sit still when the weather’s nice?

But come fall, I stack up the reading and clean the pet hair off the big cozy chair. The weather is starting to cool (well, not that much — this is California ), and I’ve already started reading. And in this, I’m not alone.

Christie and I have already weighed in on “Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America,” Nathan Winograd’s call for the end to “business as usual” in the nation’s animal shelters. I keep bringing this book up because I truly cannot remember anything that has so dramatically altered my point of view on anything — nor another book that me so excited to think  of what real reform can do to save the lives of pets. We’ve written about the book here on the blog, for an upcoming Pet Connection page for our newspaper clients through our syndicator, Universal Press, and Christie has written about it for her column for the San Francisco Chronicle’s SFGate.com Web site.

It gets ugly real quick when you start talking about the no-kill revolution, since it threatens the fund-raising machines that are many national animal-advocacy groups, and will make even the most dedicated and caring shelters directors and staffers look at their hands and see blood on them.  No wonder they’re lashing out, and who can blame them for it? Group think is powerful stuff. Christie and I both have had lots of mud flung on us – during the pet food recall we sure got used to it – but I can’t even imagine what Nathan Winograd’s e-mail inbox looks like. Hate mail out the wazoo, no doubt.

In the last couple of days, two of my favorite, most thought-provoking bloggers have picked up on “Redemption.” (more…)