Author Archive: Helen

http://www.npr.org/blogs/visibleman/

Today, on the way home from work, I listened to NPR. I was sickened by the reading of a piece by its author, Laurel Snyder, a blogger from Atlanta, Georgia. I couldn’t believe NPR would air such an ugly, one-sided piece.

So I went onto npr.org to look for it, and I just found another piece written with the same slant. I’m appalled.

Back to the blogger.

This is the link to her piece which is an audio.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15460516

The announcer introducing the piece had her two ugly cents to say:

“This week, Ellen Degeneres broke down crying on her talk show because a dog she had adopted and then given to her hairdresser was snatched back from the dog rescue folks. She had broken the dog-adoption contract.

The popular comedian’s breakdown is proof that America has taken its dog obsession a bit too far.”

The sound of the reader’s voice was so bitter and ugly about her point of view, which is also bitter and ugly. I had NO idea that the people who head up NPR are THIS one-sided. I did not find one piece that was pro-rescue, pro-pets-as-family. I’m really fed up. So I went here and left my opposing two cents.

http://www.npr.org/contact/

If anyone else wants to put some weight back on the scales to help even them out for dog lovers, listen, read, and leave your comments for them. The show with the audio is All Things Considered.

POV

Bella, Big Heart, 3 Legs

So I got this e-mail from Sheila:

“Know anybody that wants a 3 legged dobie? This girl is extremely sweet, housetrained, approx. 7 yrs old, HW neg, spayed, chipped, vacc’d, likes dogs, cats and older kids. She has been in 2 abusive homes and is very submissive and a little shy. She lost her leg many years ago when she was hit by a car and still does (not) like walking on tile. She comes with a suitcase with 1 year supply of Heartgard and Frontline, toothbrush/toothpaste, Oravet gel, ear cleaners, her beloved bed and perfume!”

Here’s a picture.

Here’s another one.

I’ve been thinking about Bella. I was wondering what kind of person adopts a 3-legged dog. What qualities differentiate that person from the rest of us? There’s got to be some extra TLC genes in that person. Someone who has a piece in her that understands that life with 3 legs at the end of your leash can be just as exciting, if not more, as life with 4. There would need to be a little adjusting, but adopting a 3-legged dog would be an adventure in any case.

A 3-legged dog owner would have a stem in her that seeks out challenges of the heart. She would be a solutions-oriented, big-hearted, TLC sort of human. A nurturer.

On the flipside is Bella, who would be a teacher in this endeavor. Not only has she gone through life in abusive homes, but she’s gone through them with 3 legs. And as I look at her pretty peppered muzzle, I see such an elegant Doberdame. What a beautiful soul is inside that well-worn sweetheart who deserves a nice big cushion to lay her head on at night, water and food bowls on stands the right height for her, and I bet she likes stuffed toys.

Speaking of bowl stands, Big Lots carries seasonal plant stands. Most importantly, they have them in Dobie height. I scatter them all over my house at my dogs’ favorite time of day, meal time. And when it’s not their favorite time of the day, I stack the stands in a corner. I bet Bella could go for a set-up like that in her new home.

She’s gotta have heart, that girl. Lots and lots of heart. I can’t wait to see who will pick this beauty to adopt.

Rescues

Ginger’s Somewhat Painful Playtime

This evening, Luigi

was playing with Ginger

And she yelled in pain a couple of times. I told them both to slow down.

I’ve noticed her getting a little too tired a little too fast, but that is something that happens with maturing. But tonight’s yelps were the first sign of a reality I really don’t want to face. Not fair.

Ginger, Luigi

Welcome home!

When I walked in this evening, Raven greeted me with the same frantic barking she often does once I open the front door. I try to ignore her. And on the occasion that she keeps yap shut and I get all the way in and shut the door, I will let her out of her crate first as reward.

Tonight, yap was not shut, so I by-passed Raven, and I let the lovely Lilian out, so she could be first to tend to business and find the Halloween Cuz ball to covet.

Lilian’s crate was free of pee this evening. Oh happy day!

I made a special crate-on-wheels for Lilian, and I keep it by the back door, which is Lilian’s special place, being the crate needs to be washed out from Miss Lilian’s leaky back faucet more often than not.

I went back to Raven, and bent down in front of her crate to watch her. She was in Raven’s world, and I dont think she saw me for quite a while. I talked to her and she continued on in a frantic monolog about what happened today, what she wanted to happen tonight, and what she wanted for dinner. At one point, hello, she sat on her food bowl which was upside down in the corner in the back of the crate. It’s stainless steel. One would think it would be a fairly cool jolt, but Raven kept sitting and barking.

I continued talking to her calmly, and then there was a point where she stopped barking. For more than just to take a breath, she stopped. So I counted to three, and told her how wonderfully good she was (lie lie lie), then stood up and opened her crate.

Zowie! She was off and running, but I grabbed her harness and brought her ’round to me. I held her and told her to calm her bad self down…softly, calmly…but she was going on about how she just couldn’t. However, after a lengthy discussion, she just did. She was calming herself down, and as soon as I told her how good she was and I let her go, she rammed into the back door. So I pulled her off, and asked her nicely to sit. She did. And I opened the door. She ran thru, so I shut the door. Then she body slammed herself back into the door. She’s so precious.

We all know that it’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind, and I take advantage of that well-known fact often. Raven’s an adolescent Doberwomann, so I forgive her “change-my-mind” antics. Most of the time.

I changed into dog clothes, and realized afterwards that the rice cooker hadn’t started rolling yet. The timer was off by an hour. I guess I can’t count as well as I used to. But this happened to be a good thing because I had wanted to put a pound of bacon in the rice tonight, and so, I did. We are having bacon-rice, eggs, and either cheese or string beans. I haven’t decided yet.

While doing that, my wonderful Doberchildren and Raven went outside and found remnants of a visit from Clem on the ground. Clem is our mischievious squirrel and he’d been up in the pine tree tasting the delights from the spirit of Eule Gibbons. When he’s finished with a cone, he drops the core, much like a corn cob. Sometimes, he throws down perfectly good whole cones. Wherever he choses to eat, he seems to taunt the dogs.

I grabbed the pooper scooper to collect what I could and had a nice collection as I walked back to the pooper scooper barrel…er, bucket. Raven was walking ahead of me, as her PITA self often does. Right in the middle of from here to there, she stopped to pick up one of Clem’s discards. I rammed into her, and poop fell off the scooper and guess what I stepped in? OK…this made up for the happy dance I did about not having to wash out Lilian’s crate tonight. Raven is getting good at pulling the happiness carpet right out from under me.

I hobbled over to wash the sole of my shoe off, unloaded the remainder of doo-dee into bucket, then rinsed the pavers off. The middle pavers where the poop remnants were is the dip-area. So when rinsing it off, a lake forms. This happened to be a polluted lake. So I had to clean it twice as much with broom and disinfectant. This gave the Doberkids plenty of time to find a way to get their paws wet so they could walk in and out of the house with wet paws. I finally got the “wipe your feet” blanket down after the paver job was done. Then I had one question to answer.

Where’s Raven’s scrawny little neck? I want to hug it tightly tonight! Raaaaven!

Lilian, Raven

Post-BSL Letter Writing

Tonight, I wrote a letter to provide people information about a bill in Florida – HB 101 – that wants to revoke Florida’s anti-BSL law on the books. OK, so I heard the very beloved Dobies (that were and are the reason behind my passion to get this bill kicked like a football somewhere like to the moon, but further) loudly playing elsewhere in our small house. But I couldn’t stop writing to find out WHAT they were doing. When I’m writing, it’s not lilke I can stop the flow and turn it on again like a faucet. Well, OK, I can, but it really bugs me to have to do that, and the new flow is never like the old flow.

Let me say there is a certain irony to having sweated out a few good words for my freedom and those of my Dobies, then to walk into the living room and find that one of the 3 pieces of furniture left in my house had started to be used as a chew toy.

May I present the Exhibit?

Note the soft and comfy doggy blankey is unscathed.

I called in the nose of the family. The one who speaks the truth and I know it. Annie. She told me what she smelled all over those foam rubber buttons.

Later on she whispered a name in my ear. I pretty much figured it was one or the other of my innocent puppies, but I was leaning more towards the one who had a look in her eyes earlier in the day that made me worry…that look in her eyes is like an earthquake predictor.

OK, but instead of an earthquake, it was a volcanic eruption of foam rubber. The couch suddenly opened up and the stuff just came popping out. That’s Raven’s story and she’s sticking to it.

And the judge and jury, that would be Helen and Annie, believe Raven’s story this time. We know who the chewer of “stuff” is. OK, one of them. Taadaa! Luna. Guilt is all over this Doberchickies’ face!

Or is it more on the face of Lilian? With a Doberbeak like that, pulling open a sofa is nothing. As a matter of fact, the reason we no longer have the matching loveseat is due to the beak on this Doberpecker’s face!

Gotta love them. They keep me on my toes.

Annie, Lilian, Luna, Raven