24 thoughts on “Open Thread

  1. My home, Silverwalk, became uninhabitable after the New Years Flood here in SE MO at the end of Dec, 2015. I spent the next eleven months with my flood foster family who also took in 4 dogs with me. The other dogs were distributed to people who responded with fortitude and graciousness to my call for help. There is always a silver lining. Two foster dogs stayed with their flood foster home. Two were adopted by their flood fosters. One returned to the woman who helped rescue her (and is very happy), and another foster is staying with her flood foster mom. Sadly, though our circumstances didn’t cause this, I sent 3 dogs to Heaven: Archie the Tyrant (rat terrier), Danny Quinn (tweenie Dachshund), and Ellie Mae Bloodhound. We are now in a new home, White Rabbit Cottage, with Silverwalk Foster Kennel out back. Still wrangling with flood insurance, but that, too, must end. I am home only with my dogs currently, Justus being one…
    And here’s more story. Justus came to me about 7 years ago as a “Black and Tan Coonhound” puppy, about 4 months old. His ears bugged me, but I’d never had a Coonhound so young. Finally, one day, I lifted up his ears and exclaimed, “Justus! You’re a Doberman!” I found in my search about Doberman, a Dobie puppy, 5 months old, who looked just like Justus. Sent my inquiry to my Doberman rescue friends in STL, and let his rescue know he may not be Coonhound. Dobie rescue said, perhaps some Doberman, but certainly not full, and his rescue said if he wasn’t Coonhound, he would need another rescue. I adopted him at cost. This Jan, I did his Wisdom Panel DNA. Well! 50% Coonhound (25% Bluetick, 25% Walker), 33.5% Muxed Breeds (major types: guard, terrier, sporting, mountain dog), and, yes! 12.5% Doberman Pinscher. He is my big boy, my life companion. I made his birthday Feb 14. He will be 7 years old.
    Thank you for letting me share.

  2. As some of you likely know, many federal government websites have been altered with significant information removed from public view since Jan 20. The latest is the USDA website. Its animal welfare inspections and reports are now gone, supposedly available via federal FOIA, if you can manage to get it (or anything). Many animals in this country have very few protections in place outside of the USDA and now the public has no way of knowing how the USDA is, or is not, enforcing these protections.
    https://t.co/lE3qUcL0sC

    1. I get emails from the White Coat Waste Project group, concerning animal testing – Justin Goodman is a spokesperson. He wrote: “24 hours after we launched the first bill that targets animal testing (see below), the government retaliated.”

      An excerpt from an article in The New York Times on 2/3/17: “The move comes two days after Congressman Ken Calvert, R-Calif., introduced a bill to require more public information on animal testing. The bill is backed by a group called White Coat Waste Project.”

      Uncle Sam just censored the only website with the number of abused dogs in government labs. It could be a devastating blow for dogs and other animals.
      So I just leaked the scandal to the New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, Associated Press, ABC News, and more.” Justin Goodman.

      The justification for this blackout is utter crap. This is from the magazine, Science: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/02/trump-administration-blacks-out-animal-welfare-information?utm_source=newsfromscience&utm_medium=facebook-text&utm_campaign=usdawelfare-10919

      1. Thanks for this, Kate. Interesting that the Times just ran an op-ed about the greatly heightened likelihood of leaks during the Trump administration. Clearly, leaks will vastly increase when the government censors public information.

  3. Nevertheless, she persisted….

    I should have written that was the end sentence by Mitch McConnell when he silenced Elizabeth Warren…today people have made it a rally cry of sorts.

    Also read today:

    “Lay in the weeds and wait, and when you get your chance to say something, say something good.” Merle Haggard

    Wanted to share with you good people here.

  4. I’m sure the Memphis pound can find someone else who will do the job in a humane manner. Please prosecute the man that slammed the door on the puppy 4 times.

  5. A man undergoing chemo adopts a dog from Lee County PAWS five months ago. He takes Fred with him to a bar and he accidentally gets away. Now PAWS adopted Fred out again saying he violated the contract. Because, a bar is treating a dog inhumanely. Oh, and didn’t you all know that yearly vaccines had to be boosted in less than five months?

    http://www.winknews.com/2017/02/14/lee-county-animal-adoption-center-refuses-to-return-dog-to-owner/

    This is also the Vice President and Director of PAWS:

    http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/ex-north-miami-mayor-elton-gissendanner-is-back-6331766

    This man also adopted a dog he named Eartha from PAWS in the past. PAWS refuses to admit this even though he has ample proof. Eartha was HW+ along with other medical issues. He treated all of them. That’s why they refuse to admit Eartha existed, it would prove they are in the wrong.

    The woman in the interview has apparently changed her story on why she won’t return Fred and how he got back to PAWS. Some documentation on that is in the comments here if anyone is interested.

    https://www.facebook.com/WINKNewsTV/posts/10155000416724161?pnref=story

  6. Remember that Swedish adventure racing team that found they were being followed by a dog, who stayed with them to the finish line despite the grueling conditions and was ultimately adopted by a member of the team? That happened in Ecuador in 2014. Today ESPN broadcast a really nice short documentary about it.

    A page about the story, with an intro, still images, and captions:

    http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/18804102/arthur-dog-completes-2014-adventure-racing-world-championship-find-family

    And the video itself:

    http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=18814225

    It’s an extremely sweet story and helped raise my spirits a little bit during this difficult time.

  7. A dog comes into animal control with a registered, up to date chip. Should be a simple reunion, right? Not so much.

    The animal control waited five days due to a “clerical error” to contact the information on the chip. In that time a man with “supporting documents” came in and claimed Gracie. Apparently, he “rescued” her two years ago from an intersection and did nothing at all to find her real owner. And now he thinks since he has had her two years she now is legally his.

    So now the courts are going to get involved.

    http://www.nbc12.com/story/34965007/henrico-family-fighting-to-get-beloved-dog-back

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