Internet harm or help.

Twenty plus years ago I had a very small group of dog owner/lover friends we were not exceptionally close but we did know each other. That group grew as I became in involved with the opening of an off leash dog park in my community, then I joined an on line form, Chinese Crested Crush. Through that I started working in Rescue, the online friendships grew as we got to know each other through our beloved Chinese Crested dog. This group was really close as we were looked at by most of the world as strange because our love of hairless dogs seem weird to most. Our beloved companions were called Ugly and won many contest of the same name. We were ask the rudest question about our dogs. I had people shy away as they thought somehow I was an idiot taking a sick dog into public, even many vets had not seen them or touched the hairless dogs, As many of my hairless dog owner friends will attest in the early beginnings of of owning these marvelous dogs we were the exception and thought of as nuts, to put it point blank. Now that these dogs have been exploited by good but mostly bad breeders they are in shelters found wondering the streets and so on. This same thing is now happening to two other hairless breeds as the understanding and love for them grow. We have gone international it is so easy to ship these dogs they are being flown to all the industrial countries and transported through the South America at an alarming rate. So in twenty years I fear the plight of the other two hairless breeds will end up like the CC has.We are just now starting to see the effects of this problem. The internet has splashed these magnificent animal across every form of internet devices used. My friends list grows weekly as the owners of these wonderful animals are looking for others that love them. The folks that do not own them are getting introduced to them on a regular bases. They are not a breed for everyone but their uniqueness puts them on the hit list for every person that has a need to be different and wants one to fill this need.  The other group of just plain not educated dog owners that find they bit off more than they can chew when they get one. There are the folks that just don't care and why they have animals in the first place are beyond my comprehension.
I have no desire to see breeds cross just to see what the puppies will look like. I have no desire to have a hairless Pit Bull, and what the hell is a hairless chi weenie, come on has the world gone nuts. We have enough of the street mutts and irresponsible dogs owners out there to last a Millium. It is one thing to go to the shelters and adopt a dog but we need to find a way to stop filling the shelters. As the laws in the Northern cities about loose pets filter to the South and small country areas we are starting to see a small dent in the numbers of street dogs. But the breeding, I can not turn my computer on with out seeing the next litter of pups. I don't know all these people and will not stand in judgement of them. I just hope folks will think long and hard about the pups they are bring into this world and who they sell to. Not everyone that has money should have a dog. Everyone must think and be responsible. And yes they all tell me the same thing, I have heard it all. I have had folks jump down my throat in defense of  what they do.   I am seen as the enemy because I am in rescue. OK I get it everyone has their passions and will fight for them. I am not saying stop I am saying think. Don't just look at the process of them being adopted out of your home but how long will they be in the home your adopting to.  I know some very fine folks that buy a dog for there kids to help them learn responsibility then when the kids leave the home they dump the aging dog as it has served it purpose, in my eyes that just cancelled out the responsibility you were trying to teach them. Now said dog had a great life till the kids left and now they get rid of the dog, and who wants an old dog, not many. The dogs only crime was to end his usefulness.  Now yes in rescue we have this happen to us also. But we are not bringing them into this world we are just trying to save their lives and do what we can to ensure they don't get dumped again. All I am trying to say is Think, go beyond the money and try to help the problem. Educate, don't just walk away saying it is not my problem because this is every human on Earths problem. We are the ones that was given a conscience and the ability to reason.

Crop circles, who knew?

I think most dog owners will agree; especially small dog owners, that potty habits can be problematic at best. Now I have been around dogs my entire life so just when I think I have seen it all, I get a new reality check.  I have seen a dog poo on a stump, on a wall, on a foot, in a shoe, in a dog food bowl, in my bed, you name it; hell one of them shit on my paper I wrote for a class in college. Please I could not even tell the Professor what happened I just said I did not get it done and took my “F”.

I arrived home the other night and the girls had not gotten home yet so I went about getting the dogs fed.  I sat out the bowls scooped in the food then whet around and started the task of putting them all in the kennels to feed them. I started in the back room and then worked my way back to the living room where I discovered the strangest looking poo I had ever seen.  The fact that it was the consistency of a dollop of pudding and uniformly placed in a perfect circle, was amazing to me. Now it was not there before I went to the back room so the fact that it was done in a very short period of time and so neatly done it took me by surprise.  As I stood there and admired its conformation, I found myself think which one of these Damn dogs had such talent. I almost hated to clean it up it was so perfect, well as perfect as poo can be. I finished the cleanup and fed the dogs, I put everyone outside and settled in for a cup of coffee and the nightly news.  Later that evening I went down stairs to do some work on the computer when I discover my second sighting of perfectly shaped and placed dollops of poo in a circle on the floor in my room.  Ok now this is starting to bother me because I can’t believe the damn dogs have this kind of talent and who the hell has diarrhea, because those dollops are starting to get a little runny.  Really who poos in circles anyway.   The kids came home and the evening went on relatively uneventful till bed time.  I put the dogs out one more time before bed and went about doing my evening rituals and came across another crop circle this one did not have the finely defined dollops it actually had wet string connectors, connect the dots if you will, the only good thing was this one was on a pee pad. Easy clean up and bring the dogs back in. The final crop circle was discovered in the wee hours of the morning as I plodded into the kitchen for a drink of water to have my foot slip on the slimy crop circle.   I will leave the reader to imagine what I said as the whole house was now awake. I never learned who was making shitty crop circles but when I saw Gideon chase his tale, his circles had a distinct size that resembled the crop circles.

The box where they put the body.

Phone calls at the house can be completely misinterpreted as English is not the first language spoken by my kids. At best they can get about 75% of what the caller is talking about at worst they will understand or think they understand two words. Now mostly they don't understand the telephone solicitors or the machines that dial the phone numbers for them. If I have to say hello two time I hang up they will just keep saying hello till the cows come home.  Then they don't know what to say so they just hand me the phone. This drives me nuts so I tell them hang up the phone and don't hand it to me. If someone knows me they know who to ask for, if they ask for the adult of the house, their Mom or Suzanne Yancey just hang up. Now my brother has gotten hung up on because he still calls me by my given name and he is male so they just hang up on him. Over the years he has learned he must yell, "don't hang up" before he ask for me. These things we have learned to live with.
The other day the girls call me at work and ask me if I was OK? Yes, why do you ask? Did you talk to Grandma? No, why do you ask? Now I am starting to wonder what the hell is going on. "Ok, you two, what's up?" I'm starting to get grouchy, as I am not good at games and when I am busy at work, just spit it out.  The girls are now getting nervous and they say " Mom we don't know how to tell you this." Tell me what? Some one called the house and said there was something wrong with the case cut, The what? case  cut, what the hell is that? You know Ma the box where they put the body. WHAT? What body ? Grandma's body. What are you talking about? Now I am thinking they are nuts. Some one call and said there is something wrong.  Girls, first of all the hospital will call before the undertaker so I am sure that they are not talking about Grandma. Second, how many times did you say hello before someone started talking? Three! Wow that should have been your first clue Batman. It was a telephone solicitor selling Caskets.
When I got home that night they were all laughing because they just did not know how to tell me my Mom was dead on the phone. I laughed back at them and said" If you have to tell don't do it with 30 questions" And for GAWD sakes stop saying hello so many times, it's a machine your talking to.