(Click on this thumbnail photo to see it at its intended size!)

I didn’t actually go anywhere, but due to a lack of time (with three Dobermans, who can blame me?) and some technical difficulties (first I couldn’t log in, then I couldn’t find my dashboard), I have not posted for several months.

Now, I’m back, but still having technical difficulties with posting my photos.  The above photo of Candy was originally 1.5 MB in size.  I resized it to 250 x 188 pixels (about 54 KB) using my photo editing software.  Then I uploaded it to my files here on WordPress.  But when I send it to the editor at full size, it looks like the original 1.5 MB file.  So I had to send it to the editor as a thumbnail instead, which is a lot smaller than I wanted it to appear.  But at least you can see the whole photo without having to scroll vertically and horizontally (and you still wouldn’t be able to look at the whole image at once).  I don’t understand why this happens.  All of the other photos I’ve posted successfully (that are mine) I think I linked to the medium size photo on Flickr.  This one I have not uploaded to Flickr yet.  What a PAIN IN THE BUTT!

I wonder if the folks at WordPress can tell me how to get around this problem.  A photo that is only 54 KB should not appear to be a few thousand pixels in size, right?

PS:  On March 30, Candy will be two years old — Happy Birthday, Sweetie Pie!

Lea, the devil dog waits at the door for trick-or-treaters.

Candy watches and waits too, but without a costume — she prefers to go naked.

There doesn’t seem to be enough information out there to know what really happened.  Did he do it intentionally?  Was he so unhappy with the dog or his performance on duty that he decided to execute him a la Michael Vick, with the exception of trying to make it look like an accident?  If that is true, than Lovejoy is just pure evil.  But if he simply forgot about the dog, than he is something much worse — insane maybe?  I don’t even know what to call it, but he is certainly not fit to be an police officer, entrusted with ensuring the welfare of citizens.  It is a sad statement about our society when we lock up innocent dogs in the pound, euthanizing them when no one comes to bail them out, yet rabid animals like Lovejoy are allowed to roam the streets, unmuzzled.

Here’s an interesting article by Malcolm Gladwell, writer for The New Yorker and author of The Tipping Point (mentioned in a post on my other blog), in which he discusses how dogs perceive our body language.  He uses Cesar Millan from the cable TV show, The Dog Whisperer, as an example.  I myself have noticed how perfectly Cesar is able to mimic the facial expressions and movements of the dogs he rehabilitates.  He obviously is in tune with the animals and understands that they don’t think or reason the way we do, although many humans refuse to accept this.  Just watch the show (on National Geographic Channel) and you’ll see.  But read the article first, so you’ll know what to look for.  I’ve just happily discovered Gladwell’s website.  He has a fresh and often fascinating viewpoint on an eclectic mix of topics, and I always enjoy reading his material.

Here is another article about the Michael Vick merchandise, in particular, the 22 dog-earred, chewed up Vick trading cards that went for $7,400 on eBay.  A comment in the article reminded me of Gladwell’s concept of “stickiness” and how it shapes the formation of a social epidemic in The Tipping Point.  In the Vick case, it is our fascination for the following ”sticky” ideas or events, in combination:  celebrities, especially star athletes; terrible acts, particularly torture; animal psychology, which leads to the contention that animals feel pain and suffer like we do; blogs, which allow anyone to publish and share news; and finally, the unending war in Iraq, its unpopularity being so popular in the media, that it has made many of us want to focus on other news.  Now that EVERYBODY knows about Michael Vick and his dogfighting business, the next trend will be in efforts to erradicate this horrendous practice from our culture.  Yes, this is only one of many practices that should be erradicated, but it is a positive step.

As many have commented in the blogosphere, the only benefit from this event is that it has brought the attention of an entire nation to a dirty little secret revealed.  I watched Michael Vick’s apology and I almost felt sorry for him — he was pathetic — but he really isn’t any more guilty than anyone else who would do that to animals.  It is just that he is famous.  We should all be thankful for that!

Now that she’s 18 months, she’s pretty much full grown.  At last weigh-in, she was 77 pounds.  She is beginning to scare people when they first look at her, just because of her size!  She is also quite powerful and agile.

And look at that ribcage.  And those muscled up thighs.  She got that way by doing a lot of jumping.  Outside, last summer, she took to the hose like a maniac, chasing that jet stream of water back and forth in the grass and biting at it when I moved it closer.  She burned up a lot of excess energy that way.  In the fall, I started bringing her to the dog park and she quickly made friends with other high-energy dogs who also loved running, wrestling and doing this polka-type thing shown above with her usual dance partner, Dino.  Later, when she got really dirty at the park, the hose play proved to be helpful in getting her to come into the shower with me.  Last winter, when it was too cold to go to the dog park, I played with her in the living room with her “spidey,” dangling it just above her head and waving it from side to side.  She would jump and twirl in the air just like a ballerina.

And this year, all summer, she’s been going to the dog park regularly and getting really dirty.  It’s less of a mess and so much easier to just hose her off in the yard, but I’m hoping to find an activity that is cleaner, at least for the winter.  So I enrolled her in agility classes (indoor, of course).  The first class was last week.  Everything was new to her, so she was a little distracted by the other dogs and people and various loud noises, but she came out of it happy and exhausted.  Me too.  Plus, I was amazed to see that she jumped over the bar and through the tire, crawled through the tunnel, went up and down the A-frame, and went through the weave poles, all on the first night.  (The poles might be the hardest for her because of her size.)  All in all, we had a blast!

I can somewhat imagine the adrenaline rush the guy must have experienced seeing his dog in a fight — I had a similar experience several years ago.  I was walking my dog on her leash around the block when another dog got out of her yard and came after us.  My dog was a 50-pound Shepherd/Beagle mix and the attacker was a 150-pound Rottweiller.  She ran right up to my dog and bit her on the rump, nearly severing her tail.  With no time to think what to do, and scared out of my mind, I chased the Rottie away, screaming and jumping and waving my arms around like a maniac.  This worked for a moment, but then she came back.  I got in between her and my dog and started flailing about, all the while screaming at the top of my lungs.  I was aware of the possibility of getting myself hurt by getting between them, but my instinct to protect my dog overruled common sense.  And it was obvious the Rottie wanted to attack my dog more than me.  Just when I was about all out of scream, the Rottie’s owner came out and got hold of his dog.

I still don’t know what I would have done next, had he not come out when he did.  However, if I had a stick or a club, I like to think I would have used it to separate the dogs, and subdue the attacker, not beat her to death.  How did the Doberman owner manage to repeatedly stab only the Pit Bull and slice its neck twice if the two dogs were still entangled?  He would have to have a pretty good aim.  I wonder if he’s had a lot of practice with that.

One person commented on the story saying, “Dobermans and Pit Bulls do not belong in the dog park.”  That is so absurd!  Regardless of their breed, dogs who are not socialized with other dogs are the ones that do not belong.  And neither do their owners.

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The New York Times article is online at

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/sports/football/01vick.html

HSUS’s false fundraising claim is preserved online at

http://www.consumerfreedom.com/images/hsus_clip.png

For more information about the Humane Society of the United States,
visit www.ActivistCash.com/HSUS.

>>

The first address takes you to the NY Times login screen.  If you have an account you can log in and try to search for the article, but it’s not there.  If you don’t have an account, you might just move on to the next address, a simple screen shot (which may or may not have been altered) of the HSUS’ campaign graphic.  I went straight to the About Us page on the “Center for Consumer Freedom” site.  There I learned the site is published by a group of restaurant owners, farmers, and individuals who want the freedom to eat what they please, and apparently oppose animal rights organizations.  The third address takes you a page on another anti-activist site created by the same Center for Consumer Freedom on which the HSUS is viciously attacked.  The language on these two sites strikes me as blatant propaganda and quite radical, but it is just like some of the animal rights sites too.  I tend to be suspicious of anything like that.

So, I’m not automatically going to believe this story.  The HSUS is running a big organization.  If they were really scamming people, why isn’t there any discussion about it in the mainstream news media?  This is why you can’t trust everything you read on the Internet, especially posts on listservs and message boards.  Of course, you should take the time to find out as much as you can about any charity you give money to, but don’t rely on extremist organizations for your research.  Many folks have suggested it’s better to donate to organizations that are visible in the community – such as your local shelter.  This is a good idea.  And you can still help put an end to puppy mills by refusing to buy dogs from retail stores.  Tell all your friends.