Wheres my sanity

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Animal Rights Group Dupes Donors

I realize that many of you dear readers have already seen this news release enough times to have it memorized. Please forgive me for posting it yet again. It really is important for this type of information to be spread far and wide.

If you are seeing and reading it for the first time, know you are not only free to copy and post elsewhere,I'm all but begging you to do so.
margot

Animal Rights Group Dupes Donors Into Believing It Takes Care of Animals

(Columbus) - When regional retailer, Meijer, received pressure from sportsmen to sever ties with the animal rights extremists in the Humane Society of the Unites States (HSUS), some questioned why the U.S.
Sportsmen's Alliance (USSA) acted to oppose the partnership.

"Most people simply don't know that the HSUS is actually an animal rights organization that is opposed to any use of animals for the benefit of humans," said USSA president and CEO Bud Pidgeon. "The public deserves to know the hidden agenda behind this is to deceive them."

On April 24, 2008, HSUS, the world's largest animal rights organization, announced a partnership with Meijer, a regional discount retail chain to raise $5,000 for the organization's fund to address the purported problem of abandoned pets as a result of the national home foreclosure crisis.

The USSA, a national organization founded to protect the rights of sportsmen, responded with an alert asking hunters to contact the retailer to protest the partnership. Meijer quickly responded by canceling the arrangement. Since that time, some animal welfare activists have questioned why USSA would oppose a partnership alleged to benefit pets.

The Washington DC-based HSUS, raised $100 million dollars according to its
2006 IRS filing. Despite a name that seems tailor made to animal shelters, HSUS is in fact an animal rights organization. Its main function is to change laws that permit Americans to gain any benefit from animals. It advocates for restrictions on livestock farmers, bans on life-saving medical research performed on animals and opposes zoos, circuses and rodeos. Of course HSUS also opposes hunting. The HSUS does not operate or represent the local dog and cat shelters that exist across the United States.

"With a name like the Humane Society of the United States, it's easy to see why some people believe that there is a connection between it and local animal shelters, which struggle every year to make ends meet," explained Pidgeon. "HSUS spends the bulk of its money on making contributions to politicians, lobbying, lawyers and expensive 30-second advertisements to promote voter issues aimed at banning various uses of animals."

The Humane Society uses campaigns, such as the Meijer campaign, as a public relations tool to help it raise its $100 million dollar war chest for its animal rights crusade. Evidence of this is contained within its leadership.
Wayne Pacelle, CEO of the organization, is the former executive director of the Fund for Animals, which was the nation's leading anti-hunting group.
Upon accepting the executive job at HSUS, Pacelle announced a merger with the Fund for Animals and quickly hired its most ardent hunting opponents as his top management staff.

The HSUS then swallowed several anti-livestock organizations, hiring their leadership as well. Its takeover of the Doris Day Animal League has given it access to Hollywood dollars, previously the home turf of the radical People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Unlike PETA, however, Pacelle and HSUS are not interested in making a large public relations spectacle using naked models or making outrageous statements comparing the Holocaust to the slaughter of chickens. Instead, HSUS has launched a series of campaigns that put it in a positive light with animal lovers in general.

Such was the case in 2005, when HSUS created a fund to aid animals stranded as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Later, the Louisiana Attorney General's office launched an investigation of HSUS when allegations surfaced that the money never made it to the pets in need.

In 2007 it launched a campaign to address the issue of so-called "puppy mills," abusive large-scale commercial dog breeding operations. Using sentimental images of suffering puppies, the organization is backing legislation in Pennsylvania that would devastate small hobby breeders, dog show kennels and sporting dog enthusiasts. The legislation is so radical that it has been opposed by the American Kennel Club, United Kennel Club and even dog rescue shelters in the state.

"Taking advantage of the American people's love for their pets, HSUS is able to deceive donors and the public into believing that the organization is in the mainstream of American values," said Pidgeon. "It is this mainstream image that allows HSUS to raise its 100 million dollar budget to take our hunting and fishing rights away. At the same time, by deceiving animal lovers, HSUS robs financially strapped dog and cat shelters of critical funds needed to actually look after abandoned and abused pets."

The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance recommends that people who want to help real animal shelters give to their local shelter organizations.

"Some animal rights groups masquerade as pet shelters, so donating to a local organization gives the contributor the opportunity to determine how their funds will actually be spent," said Pidgeon.

The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance is a national association of sportsmen and sportsmen's organizations that protects the rights of hunters, anglers and trappers in the courts, legislatures, at the ballot, in Congress and through public education programs. For more information about the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance and its work, call (614) 888-4868 or visit its website http://www.ussportsmen.org

Labels: animal rights

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Flowers

I have become almost obsessed with trying to find the right angle and light to get some pictures of my little gardens in all their current glory. The yellow iris will only be in bloom for a few more days and I think I managed to finally get a good picture of them at their peak. This fall I plan on getting Alison to help me dig and thin them out. What I am hoping to be able to do is to trade some of my yellows for someone eles' purples or even some whites. I think the same number, but mixed colors will be even prettier. How about you? What do you think about mixing the colors for next year?

My son gave me this Foo Doy almost 30 years ago. He is supposed to watch over us and keep us safe. Overall, I'd say he has done a pretty good job.

This side of the garden, side with the bathtub goldfish pond is where I continue to struggle to build a butterfly/hummingbird garden. Each year since I started this project I have been graced with a few more butterflys and a few more hummingbirds. I'm really hoping that this will be the year I get to snap some nice pictures of both butterflys and hummers.

Today was a slow, quiet day. It was beautiful, warm and sunny. I am finding myself feeling more rested than I have in months. The healing power of the sun, soft breeze, beautiful flowers and a smaller than usual congenial pack made my day one of the best. Even the dogs found themselves mostly laying around snoozing in the sun.

All day I have managed to not think about all the people on the other side of my tall fences who would steal from all of us the joy that comes when such a day as this one can be shared with a few animals who understand the pleasures and mirror them back to us. May the ARvipers fail and fail totally before all our domestic animals are sucked away from us.

Labels: animal rights, dogs, flowers, sunny days

Monday, May 05, 2008

Musings on a May Monday

See the wide strip of bare ground in the picture below? Last Thursday it rained off and on most of the day. During one of the not raining spells I turned everyone outside as I always do. Got busy doing other stuff and really wasn't paying as much attention as I should have. So, okay, I screwed up twice. Once because I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have and once because I didn't lock the gate at the end of the garden. I remember thinking about it and then thinking, "I don't have anyone who will even try to pull this gate open". Paint me stupid.

It got really quiet outside and I heard the quiet. Not a good sign and so I hurried to the door to check on everyone. First, it had started to rain again. Second, I see most of the dogs all sitting or standing in a line facing the flower garden. Two dogs are very conspictiously missing. I stepped out on the porch and at once started having a screaming fit. One red Doberman (Chance) and one black Standard Poodle (Caruso) had decided to open the gate and let themselves into the garden. When I caught them they were in the process of racing back and forth and stompping on as many flowers as possible. So we now have room to plant more flowers.

At least on this side of the porch the gate always gets locked. I don't make the mistake of leaving it open because with the goldfish pond there is just too much of a temptation to go in and "play". As it is I always have to chase two or three new, young dogs out every spring. How do they get in? To tell the truth, I'm not totally sure. I have my suspions, but have not actually caught anyone entering, so don't know for sure.

Sometimes I have people make comments about training the dogs to stay out of the gardens. While I have been very successful at training my own dogs to stay out of my flowerbeds and gardens over the years, this is totally different. On any given day I might have between 5 and 15 or more dogs here and none of them belong to me. That paints a whole other picture.

Anyway, for what I think might be the first time I am actually posting a couple of pictures that don't have any dogs in them AND the mischief that was done to the gardens was done by someone other than Sanity. I now know she has survived her puppyhood and made it to three years of age. Amazing! Totally amazing!

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

drop it 2

Drop it

Drop it has always seemed to be a useful command, and yet, for some reason not one I have ever bothered to teach in a way that would make it a part of our everyday vocabulary. Strange, since I'm not usually so lax about such things. It has actually got me to wondering just how many other truly useful words or word phrases we teach in a causal manner and so never do manage to have them be truly useful for us or the dog.

Anyway, back to drop it. Sanity already knew how to fetch just about anything on command. She knew how to give on command and it just suddenly occurred to me she really needed to learn how to drop stuff as a way of rounding out the entire idea of having a dog move stuff from one place to another for you.

The first way that both using and teaching drop it occurred to me was when it comes to picking up her toys and bones. She is the worst dog I have ever owned when it comes to her toys and bones. She seems to take great pleasure in getting every single toy and bone out of the toy basket and scattering said items all around the house. Walking can be down right dangerous if you don't pay very close attention to where you are stepping. The toys are bad enough, but to step on one of the bones in the middle of the night can be a real killer.

I though that if I started making her pick all the stuff up and put it back in the toy basket at least I wouldn't trip in the middle of the night. And who knows? It just might slow down the spread of trip-ables around the house. Bingo! Darn, if it isn't actually working. I don't have nearly as many bones or toys on the floor all the time.

So, okay it is time to move this drop it command on to other things. The dirty dog food pans seemed like the next place to practice the command. Here's the thing; I hate doing what I think of as mindless repetitions. You know, the discipline drills we all must do when we are learning a new activity that is going to require muscle memory as well as mental agility. Can't learn to play the piano without doing the boring scales drills. Can't become a truly good singer without singing scales for hours on end. Can't become a good dog trainer without drilling for hours and days on how, when and where to put your hands and feet so they make sense to the dog.

And the dog. The dog can't learn to sit without hundreds of drill style repetitions at doing just that one thing. She won't learn to come, to down, to fetch, well you get the picture, unless we make the discipline drills possible. The rebellious little girl that still lives in me whines, "does it have to be so boring?" I notice that all the dogs say the very same thing. Some times it does have to be boring, just not always.

The drop it command is managing to fall into the "just not always" sort of drill work. This brings me back to fetching the dirty dog food pans. That job entails going down a very steep set of stairs, turning the corner and going into the kennel room. It then means going from kennel to kennel looking for a dirty pan. The pan then has to be picked up and carried out of the room, back upstairs, and then to the kitchen where a place rug on the floor marks the spot the pan must be delivered to and where I stand to receive it. All that has already been taught, first as individual pieces and then as a complete "go downstairs and get the pan" job. Why not use it to teach "drop it"? Why not, indeed. And so I am.

The most difficult part so far has been to teach her that taking the pan from the kennel to the bottom of the stairs and putting it down was a good thing rather than a bad thing. She was so sure at first that I was telling her to drop it because she was doing something wrong. When she did drop the pan, it took literally weeks of repetitions to convince her that she could then come to me WITHOUT said pan and be making the correct choice. Finally we got over that hump.

The next step was to have her collect all the pans and leave them at the bottom of the steps. I would then make my way back upstairs and to the kitchen. Once there I started sending her to "go downstairs and fetch the pans". She was happy, since this was what we were supposed to do with the pans. Last week I added the second step. Now its fetch the pan from the kennel and drop it at the bottom of the steps. Once all the pans are at the bottom of the steps, she gets to carry each one of them up the stairs and drop it at the top of the stairs. After she has finished carrying all the pans to the top of the steps I then make my way upstairs and to the kitchen to be ready for her when she brings each pan to the kitchen.

I have this wild idea that I am going to teach her to go downstairs, get the pans and bring them up to the kitchen and put them in the sink. Now that seems like it will be a truly useful thing for her to do.

It has also got me thinking about the way we pick up the trash that blows into the yard every single blasted night. Until or unless you actually live near a highway or sidewalk that is heavily traveled, you will never know just how dirty people in this country are. Shame on all the litterbugs! Meanwhile, it does mean my dogs have yet another useful task most days. I carry the trash bag and they pick up the trash. So now I'm thinking about the advisability of buying a little red wagon I could pull along and just have Sanity pick up the trash and put it in the wagon. We'll see how that idea percolates along as the weather gets warmer.

Monday, April 28, 2008

A Tribute

Pam Green has left the building.

This morning when I opened my email there was a message telling me we have lost Pam Green. Even thought I knew it was going to happen, knew the cancer would eventually win, still there was a part of me that kept on cheering for Pam and the mighty battle she raged against an awful foe.

I consider myself lucky to have known Pam and gotten to work with her on three different occasions when we joined forces and taught seminars based on the Koehler Method of Dog Training. It sure is hard to realize she is gone. Gone are her great jokes. Gone are her truly funny little pranks. Gone is her wonderful sense of humor. Gone her good hand with a dog. Gone. Gone. Gone. The world is a sadder, greyer place for this lost to the entire dog training world. Pam, I sure hope there is a class just waiting for you to start teaching where ever you may be.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

MADtGather

Today in spite of the grey, overcast sky, the threat of rain and the temperature that never even made it to 60 degrees we still managed to have a good time. It is always great to connect with old friends and get to put names we know in print together with faces.

Today was no exception in that department. Candy Ware flew in to visit with Linda Kaim and, of course, we simply HAD to have a Gather in her honor. Here are a few pictures of the afternoon. As I'm sure you will notice, this Gather was no different in one respect from all previous MADt Gathers held at The Little Green House. The dogs far outnumbered the humans and most of the time they floated around just hoping someone would drop something or a hand would hover within head touching distance.

In studying the pictures closely, I just realized that of the three Border Collies present, only June shows up in a single picture and you have to look very closely in order to find her. It just seemed to me that every single time I brought my camera up to take a picture the Border Collies would melt away. Wonder if they were worried about the camera stealing their soul?