For two minutes and 58 seconds...

Update:  My buddy Soche has a good take on the event.

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So, we did it.  And it really is Two Days of Heartbreak which is Lori's very apt description.

We raised some money.  I guess about 100,000 people pass through.

The Scuttlebutt, which is just hearsay:

Somebody stopped by to let us know that Guelph is discussing adding German Shepherd Dogs to their list of banned breeds.  Needless to say, I was thrilled because it might help us to raise money, awareness and support. 

Somebody else said that THS is adopting out known biters who are being returned and re-adopted, sometimes repeatedly.  Worse, they are being sent to other jurisdictions.  This was from a longtime (former) volunteer who isn't too happy about their MO.

As I say, hearsay, so don't flame me.  Try a blue-flamer instead if you are determined to stage an incendiary sound-and-light show but don't wear polyester the way Harry did while playing to the gallery on his way down the College subway steps in 1967.  Heh.

Woofstock is a dog-unfriendly event.  There are no trees.  There is no grass (grass - singular or plural?)  The festival is supposed to be for dogs but not much thought seems to go into the design or the setting of the event.

I plan to advise them (since my friends the dogs are concernd) that they should a) move it to a park setting and b) hold it in the Fall.

We're not sure if the Bulldog from Saturday made it.  On Sunday, another Bulldog was in dire straits and we thought the poor ol' Kijijji special was going to peg out right in front of us.  He was a white dog and he couldn't walk anymore and his skin was bright pink under the hair.  Luckily our member Steph who is an RVT was able to counsel the owner about cooling, etc.  In other words, she read the Riot Act to the twit who was dragging the poor dog around despite his obvious distress. 

I'm told the vet tent was busy all weekend, lots of heat stroke due to our tropical weather conditions.  It is not widely known that our summers are positively brutal.  We sometimes get hot, humid air with no rain for weeks.  Some people go to Papua New Guinea for relief.

We met some good people who sought us out and stopped by our booth.  Some of them can help us to get some facts out there and let's face it, we need all the help we can get.

It was somewhat funny when one of the Attorney General's staff lawyers who is junior counsel on our case appeared.  He was immediately outed and I mentioned that unfortunately the My Ontario Includes 'Pit Bulls' button that he had purchased from me at the booth in 2006 was no longer available.  You should have seen his face.  Or not.

When he bought that button two years ago, I was imagining them all sitting around the conference table, shades drawn, calls held, door locked, observing it and listening for ticking sounds.

We all introduced ourselves to this young pup (who isn't even on the Sunshine List) so that if he was wearing a wire our names would be available - who's afraid of the big bad pusillanimous poltroon, eh?  You're playing with the Irish now, my man, and why do you think The Troubles have lasted more than 900 years? 

Ban this.

So that's it for now.  My dogs are stressed out too because I obviously didn't take them with me into 90+ temps with high humidity and multos de troggos.  I made the mistake of boarding them at my new vet clinic and they did not have a good time - I can tell.  So, I guess it's all the way up to Brucie's from now on.  They like it there. 

Two days of heartbreak squared, eh?

More later - pictures at eleven.

Oh boy, we get to work at Woofstock fundraising for the court case against Ontario this weekend.

It will be 32 C, which is 90 F with hiigh humidity.  Even better, where we will be on Front Street there's nothing but pavement.

Oh well, that's the way it is in this man's army.  If you're in TO, drop by our booth and say 'Hi'.  We like to meet our friends.

Needless to say, I won't be blogging.

Have a good weekend, everybody!

The Toronto Sun had an article today about a puppy miller in the West End of Toronto.

He was selling 'designer dogs' (aka mutts) over the internet.  I was a bit surprised at these comments by Lee Oliver of the Toronto Humane Society (my emphasis):

"People are taking advantage of designer dogs," THS spokesman Lee Oliver said. "We have had so many of them brought to us once people realize the work involved."

Well, of course, what would you expect?  The word 'designer' is a bit of a hint.  Nobody is interviewing prospective owners to find out if they are capable of maintaining a dog properly and understand what they are getting into as far as commitment goes.  That only happens with reputable breeders and outfits like the THS and other adoption agencies.

Oliver said officers are witnessing a new trend in which animals are being bought and sold on the web.

"This is completely new," he said. "In the next five years there will be an explosion of puppies being sold on the Internet."

I don't know what constitutes 'completely new' but it's been going on for years now - since the Web went retail. 

I note that pet stores aren't mentioned but where do people think those pups come from?  They are from the same kinds of places as the internet pups.  The only difference with web dog-sellers is that they don't need a bricks-and-mortar operation.  They don't have to hire staff or pay other overhead costs and best of all, the money is tax-free.  Another plus is that the way the dogs are being treated is kept away from public scrutiny.

It's kind of ironic that the Toronto Sun, which ran this as a lead item, carries advertisements from PJ's Pets - who sell 'percentage' (as they call them) dogs to complete strangers.

I guarantee that there is not one ethical breeder or adoption agency that will hand over a dog to any Joe Bleaux with cash or a credit card, no questions asked. 

Nor is there an ethical breeder or shelter that will send dogs to an unknown fate.

Not a single one.

I guess Dalton McGuinty's Ontario is open for business - the illegal kind.

Not only have the Fiberals failed to address the situation in Caledonia, which has been going on for well over two years, but they won't investigate the illegal smoke shack which is operating on taxpayer-owned property directly across from a school - and has been for quite some time.

Today, in an email from MPP Toby Barrett (PC Haldimand-Norfolk), we learned that a new driveway from the shack to Highway 6 (which runs through Caledonia) is under construction.

I feel kind of stupid right now.  I've always tried to obey the law.  I should immediately open a business on government property without a licence and without paying any tax.

I can see it now...

"Selma's Smokes N' Staffords"

Open Day & Nite - We Will Not be Undersold!

Come on Down!

I'll make a bundle while the Attorney General decides whether or not he should try to put me out of business.

*

Here's the email from Toby:

Re: Alleged illegal driveway access to Highway #6

Toby here,

My office is receiving phone calls today advising me that there is now a driveway under construction from Highway #6 to a smoke shack on Ontario Realty Corporation property.

I have made a call to the Transportation Minister’s office asking that they investigate immediately.

I am encouraging you to voice your concern as well – following is the contact information for the Minister of Transportation.

The Honourable Jim  Bradley
General Inquiry: 416-327-9200

Fax: 416-327-9188

Address: Ferguson Block
3rd Flr
77 Wellesley St W
Toronto ON M7A1Z8

Take care.

I'm a little late posting this story from British Columbia, where the typical machinations leading to a 'breed' ban have started in the wake of a bite a few weeks ago by an alleged 'pit bull'.

It sounds as though this guy was being eatern from the ground up, to borrow a colourful phrase from our wacky former Attorney General.  The victim likens the appearance of his leg to a 'pork chop'.

I'm sure the local citizens will be standing on the lawn of the legislature with torches and pitchforks, flooding the local tabloids with letters full of 'facts', demanding the extermination of the 'breed' and trolling their tushies off on the intertube comment boards.

'I became dinner,' says B.C. dog-attack victim

Christopher Sun ,  Canwest News Service

Published: Wednesday, May 28

BURNABY  - The search is on for the owners of two dogs that attacked a man, biting his leg to the bone.

David Scoular also broke a couple of his ribs, twisted his knee and hurt his neck from hopping a one-metre fence in an attempt to flee from the attacking dogs near Burnaby Lake on May 18.

"It looks like a pork chop that opened up," Scoular said, explaining how his leg looked after the attack. "The (Labrador retriever) bit right to the bone and ripped it."

It took three paragraphs to discover the 'breed' of the attacking dog, which is definite progress.  That information is usually buried unless it's a mutt who can be labeled a 'pit bull', no matter how bizarre that designation may be.  In those cases, the shape appears in the headline.

So, how about it, British Columbians?  Are you ready to ban Labrador retrievers?  We'd like a change of pace over here at Banned Aid, things are much too predictable lately.

Surprise us.

Lloyd Levine, who seemed to be either a fifth columnist for the militant animals rights team or one of their Useful Idiots, is toast.

In case you've forgotten (ha ha) he was the author of the infamous AB1634 which proposed statewide mandatory sterilization for every dog in California by the age of four months, regardless of breed, regardless of size.  Actually, it wasn't directed at every dog.  Those who live in hellish puppy mills were to be exempt.  The Bill planned to target the dogs owned by hobby breeders, working dog owners and pet lovers.

The newshounds over at the Pet Connection have the story.

Tyrone Yates has had second thoughts about his proposed statewide ban -  the search-and-destroy variety - on 'pit bulls'.

He's decided that perhaps it wasn't too logical and might have been a bit Draconian.

He's right.

Giving credit where due, at least Yates had the guts to admit he'd made a mistake and is trying to put things right for the people of Ohio.  For that, he'll get respect, unlike some politicians I could name.

KC Dog Blog has the details.

Note:  Posting has been super-light lately for various reasons. 

I'll be working the DLCC booth at Woofstock this weekend in Toronto. Drop down and say 'Hi' if you're in the area (Front Street between Church and Jarvis).  We'll have t-shirts for sale, some designed by me.  All proceeds to the Ontario legal fund.

Support BannedAid

As pointed out by Opposition Members of the Provincial Parliament (MPPs) in Ontario, the McGuinty revisions to our outdated Animal Welfare Act are problematic, to say the least.  I posted some notes about it in May.

While checking a few of my favourite blogs today, I read that a very similar type of legislation is being discussed for the Schenectady area of New York State.  In Ontario I don't think the plan is to have SPCA employees carry weapons or use Mace or body armour because we tend to be somewhat less escalated that way compared with the US.  Other than that distinction, both scenarios have the same rancid AR smell about them.

Blue Dog State and Smart Dogs' Weblog have excellent posts about the granting of police powers to civilians employed by a private organization which is not subject to public scrutiny or oversight.

I wonder if this is what they talk about at those H$U$ Expos?  There is certainly a lot of similarity among certain pieces of pet-related legislation that are popping up here and there across the continent lately.

Somehow, I doubt it, unless what we see - a duplicitous, avaricious Lord High Executioner for millions of helpless animals - is the real 'Humane Wayne'.

There's a good post over at Nathan Winograd's blog about Pacelle, his batty aunts at Peta and the travesty that was H$U$ Expo 2008 - held, of course, in Orlando Florida - the home of Disney World.

"According to HSUS as presented in statements, media quotes, and workshops at their conference, dogs and cats can and should be killed in shelters (it is a “necessity” and the “kindest option”); No Kill is hoarding; and cronies come before the animals being needlessly killed.

So we are left to conclude that this is the real Wayne Pacelle, and that this will be his enduring legacy to the millions of animals needlessly being slaughtered in shelters each year. When someone shows you over and over who they really are, what they really believe, and what they stand for, it behooves all of us to believe them."

 

Read the whole thing here.

KC Dog Blog has an interesting post explaining how dog bites, according to researcher Karen Delise, have actually declined over the past few decades. 

As a commenter said in a recent post here at Caveat, facts won't win this war.  I fully agree.  Since the antagonists are avoiding facts and going straight for lies, hyperbole and deliberate fear-mongering, logic and reason are unlikely to counterract the strategy they have used (and continue to use) in their march to exterminate pet dogs and erode civil rights - the latter being the actual goal, in my opinion.

I doubt that high sterilization compliance (as mentioned by Ms Delise) has a lot to do with the decline, since studies have shown that gonadectomy can increase anxiety, reactivity and territorial aggression.  However, more study is obviously needed before we can reach a firm conclusion.  I believe, as I have always believed, that this is a red herring which has been accepted without proper scrutiny.  It leads to mandatory neutering for pets, which is of course a key talking point of the radical militant animal rights agenda.

I agree with KC Dog Blog that having a sterilized pet is an indicator of routine veterinary care, which an irresponsible or negligent owner is less likely to seek.  I don't think it's the surgery itself which explains the observed reduction in dog bites.

I've noticed that the famous "four million (or whatever number sounds sexy to media at press time) dog bites per year" in the US keeps being reported differently as time goes by.

Originally, it was just a guess based on a very small number of bites.  I've seen the number reported as 'bites requiring medical attention' and lately, as 'reported bites'.  I can't believe that fact-checkers and copy editors are so expensive that media outlets can't afford to hire them.  If they want to run sensationalized stories, they should get the nuts and bolts sorted out first.

These are not small errors and they are not accidental, of that I'm convinced.

Repeat after me:  Dogs are the safest animals around.  They are safer than cows, horses, deer, mosquitos and many other dangerous creatures.  They are absolutely safer than humans which are the most deadly and dangerous animals on Earth.

Dogs are safer than guns, knives, automobiles, lightning, arthropods, ladders and as Janis Bradley so nicely pointed out in her wonderful little book, they are much safer than balloons and slippers.

Will we ever get back on an even keel, or will the constant media fear-mongering and the much-too-rapidly increasing human population lead to the end of rationality and civilization?

I guess we'll have to wait and see but I'm getting the feeling that we are more than halfway down the long slide into widespread ignorance and lack of common sense.

Which is just the way the tyrants like it.