Maitlands Raizin Blazes

I am grateful for my wonder puppy, Blaze. On Wednesday, Dec. 22, mid-afternoon, the heater-plug/power-bar in the living room caught fire, and Blaze went and got her daddy in the office. Thank heavens I left them home. I am grateful that I didn't feel like decorating this year, so the damage was minimal. Funny, that.
Thank Blaze for having the great good sense to go find a human to fix the problem. Flip was oblivious, but I think she'd have let the house burn, anyway. Flip isn't a fan of this house, and neither am I. Thank heavens for my puppy, who didn't want her house to burn.

My hero.
Here's some pics to honour her.

January 2007

April 2007

January 2008

As always, my animals help me get through my days. What would I do without them?
The girls had a wonderful Christmas day with the family, and Flip did her usual impression of a lap-dog, for those who asked. Flip just kept bustling happily from person to person, until she finally collapsed in the corner. Blaze helpfully deposited a ball into every lap she found. It was a great day!

I hope Christmas was good to you, too.

May 2008

OSPCA THS Drama

Happy Thanksgiving, United Mostly States of America! Must be nice to have such a late harvest:)

OH, and do not, repeat, NOT go to Union Square's blog! I badgered/bludgeoned/picketed her to post another story, and, well, I feel terrible. I'm feeling tooo guilty to even READ it.

TERRIBLE. Guilt. Oh, the humanity!!

Breaking News!!
Speaking of which again, the OSPCA has now filed cruelty charges against good old Tim Trow, President of the Toronto Humane Society. His GM, and vets, too.

It's sad, and pathetic. I need to apply for his job. I know I could have done better. Oh, the argument I had with him. Not screaming, shouting. But, wow, arrogant and haughty, I think is the best way to describe him.

Anybody remember why I argued with him? I do. About a dog named Bandit. Lab/pit-mix, was still being rehabbed, two years after putting 200 stitches into a child's face. My darlin' red girl gave my nephew a warning nip, once, to the face. Bandit obviously didn't have much inhibition. Sorry, 200 stitches? The dog liked it. And would like it again. That he still wasn't ready to be adopted spoke volumes. I saw one picture of him, his eyes chilled me. I'd love to know what really happened to him. I'd be happy to be proven wrong in my suspicions. I just don't think it's wise use of time and resources.

That Animal Planet TV show, Dogtown, is a case in point. They have the time and the resources. Good trainers, good layout, good climate. And the space. And the TV show:(

But to me, that's excessive waste of funds that could help find homes for city dogs like my old girl. Worth that extra effort. There are bad dogs. Rare, but they are there. I, to this day, believe Bandit was one of the rarities, a blood-lust dog. I'm still awaiting truths about him.

And I stopped supporting the THS, after 12 years of giving them money, after that argument.
So, there.

The Clampers

or, how to piss off your horse, without even trying.

GRIP with your upper legs, tighten your clenched knees inwards, and guess what happens? Just guess, go on, I dare ya.

The horse, feeling this constant squeezing on his back and sides, tunes you out, or runs away. A lot. Try to imagine yourself backing into a corner. What happens to your shoulders? They round inward. Keep backing. Hurts your hips, doesn't it? That's what you do to a horse's back, when you clamp with your legs.

How can he move normally with you clamped like a giant clothespin up there? He can't. PERIOD. He can't feel any aid given, as he's been numbed to any sensation from his rider. How will he feel a slight increase/decrease in leg pressure, if all he ever feels is constant pressure??

Loosen your legs, let them stretch/flop down his sides. Try to touch the ground with your heel, then your toe, then your heel again. The weight of your legs and your body keeps you on the horse's back. Gripping with your legs pops you OFF his back.

Do NOT be a clothespin! Ever noticed what a clothespin does, if you use it on a blanket that's too thick? POP! Dirty blanket.

Okay, I gotta get to work.

Good luck, and remember, NO CLAMPING!!

Definitely Flip

This is from two years ago, but I still like this picture. It's my two K-Dogs in a nutshell.
I call them, and in one millisecond..
Flip : OH, did you smell that?
Blaze: Yes, Mom?

The four above are from June, 2005, BB (Before Blaze.) Flip had a long time to figure out Mr. Scary Jangly rooster and the Frisbee at his feet, and really enjoys lording her mastery over her cowardly kid sister:)
I don't tell Blaze how long this trick actually took. Point is, Flip did it. From the quivering little hesitantly happy WHAT is a TV! farmer lifed dog, to the bravest little city/country citizen canine eveR. Flip still doesn't like air-compressors, but neither do I:)

Fox Rescue Story

And a huge thank you to the Toronto Wildlife Centre for their quick response once the poor little critter was blocked in by Rudy, thank you Rudy! Rudy is one of the kind folks (Managed by Doreen M. THANK YOU Doreen) that feed the feral cats in our area. There's a little colony down the street from my shop, with it's own little insulated crates and toys.
I've not had much to do with them for 10 years, as having dogs in the shop precludes much cat visitation. For the past several weeks, I had noticed there weren't too many cats hanging around the colony. Then an emaciated tabby showed up at our shop, tame as tame could be, yelling FEEED ME. So of course, we did. But it did seem strange, that cats would choose up the street, rather than a warm, dry place full of food. Then I saw this fox, coming out of the largest cat condo, around noon last Friday. Toronto Animal Services recommended we call TWC, and once we'd organized everything, the fox was caught, and will spend tonight warm and safe. His mange is extreme, poor little critter. Lots of secondary infection. If he can be helped and released, the TWC will do it.

Foxes are one of my kindred spirit animals, so it helped lift mine a bit, to know this little guy would be helped.
Thanks again, TWC!

Six years!

Since Flip started bossing me around:) Here she is contemplating why on earth I would need the frisbee brought all the way to me, when she's only a few feet away. She has just noticed her dad come out, and is thinking she may have to order him around too, but he goes off to cut grass.

I will just have to do. Flip loves daddy, most men. She thinks they are wonderful. I make NO sense to Flip, fancy me, a mere human, telling her what's what!
Flip is predator. Flip is brilliant. At our first meeting, she hurled herself at my ankles/knees, backwards. She ended up sitting on my feet, facing forward, looking up at me. I was hooked, right there. She put up with my odd insistence on leash work, something she thought was embarassing, if not downright abusive. Direct Flip?? Flip is always a dog with her own direction, unless you give her one, first. Oh, and your directions must be at least as interesting as that squirrel, or you are out of luck.

I've learned (she's taught me) to use an east-indian accent, very musical and placating and enticing. Think Peter Sellers in that ridiculous movie "The Party". Who is Peter Sellers? Funniest movie actor, ever..
Oh, and if the attention is already gone elsewhere? I must come after her, always happy to see/find her, or she's sure to assume that an acid-bath is next. Flip is allergic to water. A bath is a death sentence, a hate crime against her very soul.

I've started using her collar every time she goes out, right now, to shame her for disappearing TWICE, before coming back for her breakfast. Turns out she had a secret stash of green gloobers down by the pond. Flip is into secrets.
Flip is also into drama. She LOVES a good argument about the relative merits of squirrels vs. chipmunks vs. geese vs. bad cats. As I say these magic words, Flip speaks her mind about how each can be got. In her mouth. SOMEday. Her breed standard says they bark, a lot.  Flip lives up to her standards, which is pretty funny, considering how cowery she was for our first few months together. Flip didn't bark a word for three months. I never should have taught her what speak meant. I thought she couldn't. Oh, yes, she can. Flip has several ArrrOOOgah words, for when I come home from work. MrrrrArrrrOOOOO, WAH. I LOVE YOU!!

(I'm leaving them home right now, so homecoming is heartwarming.)

Flip Considering her Options

And Sister Blaze is great for bossing, too!

To Our Wonderful Dogs, and the love and laughter they live to give.
And to Spot. I will truly miss those toot reports.

Well, I mean..

Here's history, for ya!

He has no water...

All pictures taken Oct. 21, 2010

OH, I forgot to mention, she's been feeding him a smitch of corn oil, all along, the 2 litre jug is now only about a third full.
No krunchies left, just the still pretty full bag of sweet feed.
 Not watering him is killing me, freakin' KILLLLLING me.
Gah.
Look how he's polished his neck hair, sliding over the panel.
shriek.
If I do not bring him a carrot, he'll bite me when I take pictures.Chief is so SICK of pictures!
So am I. I'm petrified that the police powers that are the OSPCA are going to take me away hahaheehee.

Now, she's home, gone since early am, it's 8pm now. Chief went without water for quite a while, eh? I took those pictures at 1:38pm, says my camera. Suitable and adequate, my arse.
I cannot assume she even remembers to water him, too.
sorry, trying not to go crazier, and out.

Chief's Blog On CHDC

ospca-fails-a-champion

Today's Pics

October 18, 2010

October 18, 2010

Oh, for cryin' out loud, my camera is now taking 4meg pics. Why does it DO that.. Oh, well. feast your eyes on his food, and his clean stall, and his filled in topline, or spinous process. That's better, sort of. It will keep him warmer. His coat is really thickening up, which will camo the ribs even more. That's the new perfectly normal, for a horse, when he stands in a cage, 24/7/365. Sure makes sense.

To SOME.
Heck I talked to my MPP's assistant today, she said "I know nothing about animals, but I know that's wrong". We'll see. Elections (oooooh) are coming, so these things are unimportant again.

Or until she makes him look like this again.
May 22, 2010.

May 22, 2010

He'd just started the real re-modeling of his cage in the May shot, eh? And his topline was disappearing, but that's normal, aPparently, as of course, they do lose muscle tone. When they don't move. AT all.

August 22, 2010

Compared to three months later. Yum, yum, YUM.

OH, here's pics you haven't seen, maybe. Sept 24, and if you thought he was a healthy pregnant mare, you'd be wrong.

Sept. 24, 2010

Sept. 24, 2010

See how shadows can hide a dark horse's ribs? He's turning left there, ribs should be less visible..
Isn't he a looker. Yeah, he has that crimp in front of his croup. Breeding can do that to a stallion. But his whole put-togethered-ness is pretty freakin' correct, for a TB..

So, today, you wouldn't gasp in shock, looking at him in his stall, if you knew nothing about horses. MAYbe. Yay, OSPCA.
Poor old Chief is just not quite shock-worthy, he needs to be ignored. 'e's justahorse.
And I have to get some sleep.

Today's movie

The Human Question

Which is part of what is keeping me up at night, now. I've felt concern and empathy for this woman, and I still do. If I show it, I'm right back to square one, and then I'm still miserable. I don't feel very nice about all this, ya know? I mean, even when we had that mini-micro-feltBiGenough2me storm-burst that ripped some trees down close to her cabin, I was glad she wasn't hit by a tree. I do feel compassion for this woman. But, when you do extend it, the crazy train starts all over again. But. sigh. Is she to be my cross to bear? I feel like, I dunno. Nuts, I guess.
I am hyper-thyroid, which flares my dramatic words, aPparently. I am seemingly unendingly mental-pausal, and it seems like all the men I know in my life think I'm nuts/jumpy, yet I feel clearer on things than ever.

I wrestle with this, too.
Is Apalachian Chief just a horse, that fell upon bad times, or did he end up somewhere he should NoT be allowed to remain?

Am I just that chick who has called the OSPCA too many times? Truth be told, Madame Prescience Dena herself, called me out on that, back in the beginning of this whole weirdness that is horse fictuals, I mean factuals.

For sure, that horse I whined about at Jane and Kirby had a freakin' paradise, compared to the latest version of horse care I'm witnessing. So I have called maybe when I shouldn't have, maybe three times, in my life. The other times were things like "Uh, there's a horse on the side of the road", or "feral dog sighting". But maybe I have a record as an hysteric. aPparently.

The OSPCA seems to conveniently forget her black dog. I guess with the rapid turnover of shelter employees lately... I asked if they still had records on the cruelty case against crazy farmer from 30 years ago. They never did reply. Freedom of information, or what? Not at the OSPCA. They are busy.

I did annoy MB when the white dog would run away from her, and find me out on Flip walks.
I didn't report to the OSPCA on the white dog, I was trying to get along. Turned out, I didn't have to. The White Dog didn't make it to her second birthday..

RIP, wee White Dog. My heart sank to my boots when I met her as a puppy. I finally met her mama, when I found the mare, Chief's (shudder) future wife, up t'road. Kind old couple had given MB an ooops puppy. I told MamaDog I was sorry. White Dog was a Toy Eskimo/Jack Russell cross, tough and brave and hilarious. And so, so sad. Not enough coat for our winters. I gave MB a bed with cushions for the pup, she never did use them. I think she sold them.

Of course, white dog was left out in the uninsulated addition. Didn't need to tie her out, though. I asked MB's permission to let puppy out when I was home, and MB agreed. "Little rat", she called her, and laughed as she told me about the time when the puppy slipped off the table and started hanging herself by her collar from a chair. Uh, huh.

After awhile, MB forgot our agreement, and started complaining to the vet in town about me, my own vet for the girls. "How do I stop my neighbour from letting my dog loose?" she asked.
Vet told me, and as white dog had started showing pretty sad/bad behaviours (Running towards vehicles, more aggression as she was so hungry and lonely), and I had a young herding puppy Blaze, I stopped all contact with the white dog. Two weeks later, she was dead.

Chief doesn't look "that" bad, now. He's fuzzying up. His kind eyes still shine faintly of hope. Horses with honour do not ask for care loudly. They know that when they are caged, they remain. Patient.
Chief had no water all day. I hope she remembered to water him when she got home.

I hope I can sleep tonight.

June 19, 2010

The top picture is looking west, from inside his cage. Doesn't he look happier, now that the OSPCA is insisting she feed/water/muck him! I wanted to show you the myriad of small holes over his cage. They let rain in real good.

Hey, he looks fine from here! Taken standing on our shared driveway, looking east, my house is 100' to my right, my view as I drive home.

June 12, 2010

We had a lot of heavy downpours this summer. When it rained, it freakin' POURED. There are holes in the roof of AC's cage, and of course, of COURSE, no drainage.
I've thrown him some hay that MB had helpfully left outside his cage. NOT in his cage. Heck, he might EAT it.

The Black Dog

Here's the pictures I sent to OSPCA this summer, "proving" that I'd called about the care of her poor black dog, KC. These pictures are from 1997 & 2000. KC was PTS by MB, two weeks after my red dog died. KC had started whining and crying at night. Her poor legs and feet had been paining her, living outside on concrete, or inside in an uninsulated room in a wire cage. I think the bleakness of her life, and the loss of red dog, sent her over the edge into shrieks of despair. She was 7 or so.

When MB first got the dog, there was no outside shelter, at all. MB also had her tied up using a choke-chain, yes, set to choke.  I called the OSPCA about this, and the fact that the dog never had her poop removed from her prison. The OSPCA stopped the choke chain stupidity, but they did not stop the 6`chain, tied outside 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 etc.. in her own poop without enough food or water stupidity. The first dog house KC received was a bare wooden box, with no bedding, none. The OSPCA had to come and order her to give the dog a flap at the front, the box only had a roof and three sides.
The dog had a cage inside, a wire crate, with a single piece of old rug for bedding. Can you imagine...

 The top picture is taken from inside her prison, the gate is behind me, MB's shack to my right, the dog's outside "shelter" to my left.
The middle picture is taken looking north, in the middle is the gate, see the brown thing with a v-shape at the top of the white rectangle? It looks like it is floating in mid-air, but it isn't. MB had to keep building the gate higher, because KC would keep jumping out. I saved KC from hanging herself, jumping up and over that gate, through the "v", the day MB rode her old mare onto the property. If I had NOT saved her, MB could have been charged with animal cruelty...
(The white circular thing in the middle of the "v" is the clothes-line thingy.)

The tar-paper shack to the right of the gate, is where her "inside" cage was. Uninsulated, facing west, the south side of the "house". MB and her BF at that time built that "addition", it now has white siding on it. MB's house is actually an illegal dwelling, it was intended for summer use only, by the original landlords.

The bottom picture was KC's water bucket. KC did her best to keep the shit out of her tiny "area", but after a while, she'd run out of room.

I sent OSPCA all of these pictures this summer. I called and called about that dog, and finally gave up. I fed that dog at MB's house, whenever I could. MB would leave the dog outside, in the coldest of winters at night, KC barking herself crazy, for days at a time. MB called the police one night, she'd seen my tracks in the snow, when I'd brought the dog some food. It was -20 celcius, MB hadn't been home, I'd fed and watered the poor thing. of course, THEN, MC comes home, and calls the cops.

MB showed OSPCA papers from a vet for this dog, too. See how shiney she is? Amazing what lies can be told, by a "glossy" coat. Think showsheen, for dogs. Plus, the dog was black, really hard to show her terrible condition. Believe me, she was ribby.

yeah.
I am criminal.