Saturday Morning Musings, Priss's Turn

Saturdays are the hanging out in bed morn; it's our time to think about the good in life. Lately we have been deep in sadness and it is time to come up for air. Always when my husband goes to work the guys climb on up. We have one of those tall beds where you need the little stool to get up, they can do that. It is really fun to wake up under the fur balls. Priss the baby girl is the most cuddly and she is only 120 at the moment so when she flops over my chest I can still breath, Oreo being the Grand Dam' stretches horiziontally across Dad's pillows making sure her nose touchs mine. Priss seems to realize anything sticking out from the covers belongs to Oreo. Even tho' 115 is big to some folks, Oreo seems delicate and petite . We call her the Girlydog because of her coy ways. Winsome would be a good word too. Burley Dog just claims the rest of the bed, and at 190 he pretty well fills it up. This is a delightful way to start the day as we all stretch and yawn, they wait while I come back to bed with coffee and toast.
We all need time to stop and see the good in the world around us, and there is plenty of that. Priss met a lady at Washington Park who have never seen a Newfoundland before, and Priss had never heard a German accent before, so instead of playing with the lady's pooch, Priss sat right in front and listened to every word that came out of her mouth. The lady was visiting from San Francisco and had come up for Hot August Nights. She truly loved our mountains and hospitality, the fact that our sky was blue seemed to impress her too, very nice woman.
As the talk turned to her little dog ( a cocker mix, Sharon) the conversation became serious. The little ( Parti? ) cocker had been her neighbors dog, when the neighbor passed away the dog became ownerless and was looking at shelter time. Greta decided to keep her. Often seniors have a pet, their kids have pets of their own and don't or can't take the parents pet. It was wonderful to have a happy ending. Residing in the Bay area had given her a first hand look at the SF/SPCA under the brief leadership of the No KIll Advocacy fiasco. She had volunteered under that leadership and seen the wreckage first hand. It was sure an eye opener for me. All the second hand stuff we hear through the rumor mills, confirmed. She currently volunteers at an open admission shelter. She said it is not so depressing as one might think, the dogs are well cared for and many have come from the streets and this may be the first care they have experienced; first loving touch, first food they didn't have to fight for. She works 4 hours a day three days a week She is a retired Veterinarian and works in the E room. It is somehow good to know that caring people like her are there in the final moments. Priss adored her and the little cocker had a glow that spoke of a good life. If we each do what we can where we can, we will get the animal mess cleaned up....
For us, breakfast was good, the crusts were shared, now it is time to go to the park and find a new friend. the Chukkar and the Quail are covering the hillside this morn and in August it almost feels like autmn. For those new to the blog; Priss got a rough start in life and by the time she came to live with us at six months she had been in three homes. We are very gratful to the wonderful breeder who did a home follow up and drove across states to bring her back. we adopted her and one year later she is the light of the neighborhood. Sometimes even with all the checking, people don't know what they are buying, and things go wrong. thank God these dear owners contacted the breeder and it worked out well. Below is an article about the flagship " no kill" shelter as it is existing currently.

August 8, 2007 News
Overcrowding at the SPCA The Tompkins County SPCA has too many animals to handle. The organization slashed adoption fees in half, still they have a problem. There are dozens more dogs at the SPCA than normal. People who run the shelter say this summer has been a lot busier than past seasons.
The SPCA's Executive Director has been scrambling to get the word out. Abigail Smith says they have twice as many cats there than normal, with a grand total of nearly 450 cats. Smith says, "The only thing worse really would be an outbreak of some kind. God forbid that doesn't happen but being over capacity is tough. It's stressful on the animals that are here."
The SPCA has come up with creative ways to handle the extra animals. Some pets are in the kitchen. Others are in the laundry room. Adoption fees have now been cut in half: it's now $75 for a dog and $50 for a cat.
Because of the overcrowding, the SPCA in Ithaca had to close for several days recently to catch up on the work. And anyone who wants to drop off a pet has to do it by appointment only.
The above article was sent to me with the wrong date, my apologies; the typo missed my attention. I have corrected the error.
Is it true our no kill shelter (NHS) killed sixteen longterm dogs yesterday ? A crying lady with a pitbull gave me that info at the Rancho this morn; if it is, will Mark put it on his blog?


Pictured is our Miss Priss, of course on the bed.....