Love

Old dogs can learn new tricks. Old dogs rescued from puppy mills can be housetrained, learn commands, and even learn to love for the first time. Old dogs whose owner dies can be "rehomed" and love their new family as much as their former family. Old dogs need love, too.

Special Needs Pets

Did you know that dogs rely primarily on smell? Sometimes owners don't even realize their dogs are deaf! They can learn commands by a visual sign. My dog can hear, but she can sit if I say the word sit OR if I just hold my hand a certain way.

All Pets Deserve a Home

It's the fault of humans that pets are overpopulated. We bred them. We don't always spay and neuter our pets. And an intact dog or cat WILL often end up pregnant or impregnating another animal. And pets that are ugly or have been mistreated can still make wonderful pets. They have such a capacity to love.

Special Needs Pets

Did you know that dogs rely primarily on smell? Blind dogs are easily acclimatized to a new environment. We humans primarily relay on sight, so we can't relate, but dogs do not rely primarily on sight. They can easily be taught the layout of a new home.

Black Pets are least likely to be adopted

... and most likely to be euthanized due to not being adopted.

Dogs

One of North America's biggest puppy mills was shut down this week-end. Quebec is, unfortunately, the worst place in North America for puppy mills due to Quebec's comparably relaxed animal welfare laws. (That's not to say that everywhere else is fine, and Quebec has some tough legislation already in the works.) Still, you can read about the story here, here, and here.

Whatever you do, please do NOT buy your pets from a pet store (unless the store is a satellite for your local humane society or SPCA), from on-line, from the want-ads of your newspaper (unless it's a want-ad for a rescue group or humane society), from a "backyard breeder", or from kijiji or Craig's list.

Look into reputable breeders. Start by researching the breed you want. Then go to their breed website and look up breeders (you can start with the Canadian Kennel Club or American Kennel Club, or local equivalent). Ask for recommendations. Ask friends or on internet message boards. Remember, a good breeder won't have 500 dogs present - they just can't properly care and socialize that many dogs. And a good breeder will usually only focus on one breed. And GO to the breeder to check things out.

Red-Necks

I don't self-identify as a "red neck". I have to say that first. I know people who do, and who take pride in it. Personally, I don't get it. To me, a "red neck" is an uneducated person who lives in the country. And yet, I live in the "country" and know educated people who call themselves "red necks".

I don't get it.

But I also don't think it's appropriate to call people red necks as an insult. Insulting someone based on their income or education or hometown or race is never appropriate.

I volunteer for St. John Ambulance, and I was a volunteer first-aider at an event called the Verona Mud Drags. People race cars with really loud engines and way too many housepower (2,000-3,000). I don't get it, either! But I also won't laugh and call them rednecks, as one of the other volunteers did. According to him, he couldn't believe the low intelligence of people who live in this town.

Well, I don't think that most people at the event don't actually live in that town, since it's a small town and there were a lot of people there. But as I live two towns away, I thought this person was rude to make a statement like that. Actually, I know I would have been offended by that statement even if I didn't live in the area. To judge everyone in the area based on where they live, and to judge everyone at the event based on this event, seemed ... ignorant.

I will admit, there were people at the event who were ill-mannered, like the two teens who were chewing tobacco and spitting everywhere. (And they were clearly under 19, making their activity illegal here.) There were women who appeared as if they had not bothered to brush their hair this month. (Yes, that is a harsh thing to say, but that's what it looked like.) There were young men (maybe my age) wearing shirts with very rude messages. But though I found some of these behaviours sad or offensive, I wouldn't judge the entire community based on the actions of the people at this event. Nor do these actions necessarily make these people bad people. Sure, they may have questionable judgement (the t-shirts) or may have succumbed to peer pressure (the chewing tobacco) or may not have self-esteem or self-pride (the messy-haired women). But that doesn't automatically make them bad people.

Besides, there are a lot of other things I can judge people about - for example, the parents of the child (probably around 10) who I observed careening around the grounds of this event on an all-terrain vehicle (four-wheeler) at very fast speeds, almost hit my car in the parking lot (yeah) and not wearing a helmet. Don't get me started about the many reasons this was wrong!

On an unrelated, neat note, a family who had been on Wife Swap had been there. Apparently, the mom (at least prior to going on the show) did all the cleaning, cooking and "women's chores", while their husband races at these mud drag events. I don't know who they were, but it wasn't that big an event so I probably saw them. Random, eh? :)

Whew ...

Of course, you're aware of the disaster that occurred in Haiti. I'm watching "Hope for Haiti" and earlier I watched "Canada for Haiti" (um, the same format as the American/International show). You are no doubt upset by what's happening, too. I just wanted to pause and acknowledge this tragedy.


I've now read everything in my reader. Our wireless is down, so using the internet is inconvenient: in the corner of the basement. Plus, now that I'm working and commuting half-an-hour each way (as opposed to ... about 5 minutes at my last job), I've been exhausted at night. So here's a quick update:
-Work is good. Still lots to learn.
-Princess is good. She's such a cute little cuddler when I get home. (She wasn't used to me being away from her for hours until I started working again!)
-Wade is good. He's working shift work for the next 4 weeks, which sucks, but at least he'll go back to normal days when this run is over.

That's all I got for now. I'm going to have a nice, relaxing bath then go to bed. Tomorrow I'm volunteering with St. John Ambulance for about 5 hours. (I started volunteering with them back in October. The commitment is: 2 hours of training 2-3 times a month (training is every Wednesday, so you just pick the Wednesdays you can make) plus one "shift" a month (you pick the shift, ranging from 4 to 9 hours, mostly on week-ends).

Quick Update

Just a quick update: two days into my job, I'm still not sure what to think. But I'm more positive than I was on Sunday.

This week-end, I'm going to Ottawa to visit two friends - one who lives in Ottawa and one who's in Montreal. We're going to the spa these two ladies took me to for my bachelorette. This time, we're celebrating my friends: Lessia is about to go be a volunteer at the Olympics, and Crystal is about to spend six months in India volunteering on a fellowship, while being paid by her employer! That's just amazing that we're celebrating two amazing ladies!