Happy New Year !

The missus and I are off to wait at a neigbors for the fireworks, but for our East Coast readers, I hope you enjoyed your evening. We were quiet and caught up on correspondence.  The house wasn't empty though, while typing I saw the little sitemeter man running across the monitor and most of the gang showed up, so Terri, Lucy, Marilyn and our new guests from Maine, may your New Year be filled with information that you may use to help an animal in need.  I have never been to Brewer on Bucksport Maine, but I am sure some real animal lovers live there.
In Christ's love
Chap

Name That Player

In my younger days there was a hit show called Name That Tune, a few bars and I had it nailed and could finish the verse.  They never invited me to the studio, but I won every round in my living room. That skill set is with me today as I go through online comments sections on forums and quickly identify the players by their rhetoric.  Many of them come here, they don't comment, but they come and I hope they find some bit of truth that will change their thinking.
Most I've come to know through reading the interactions they have with each other, example, the heavy drinkers like to get together and talk over the abuse the world heaps on them., the AKC people talk strategy, but the laptop rescues, Marilyn Reeese,Maria Venuto,Debi Day, Kathie Santemoro, Ryan Clinton, John Sibley, Terri Fulks Dyer Douglas Cooper, they just lash out.  Maria, in her Lucy character, is the most profane and vulgar, but does much to help those of us opposed to the branded version of no Kill. She does more to make the whole movement look bad than anyone other that It's founder.. As if their drivel could solve a problem, or the answer lies in their keyboard and auto correct.  Terri goes crazy over my mis-spellings, I don't use spell check.  I write from my heart and my experience, I am not going for a Pulitzer.
The recent attack on Waggin Train Rescue in New York, and it was covered on several lowlife type Face book pages, brought out the absolute worst of a very poor lot.  Kathy Revilieo ( another keyboard rescue, along with Shirley Thistlewaite, provided a platform for hate.  They put the very lives of the staff at Waggin Train in danger as they incited hatred that quickly escalated to lynch mob,  group think.

The No Kill groupies focus on who says what, as opposed to reading the message.  On a recent article half the posts were " who are you" in nature.  As if that mattered.

That got me curious, who could they have slandered badly enough to be concerned about push back.  Cruising through their literature  I've created a partial list of attack victims.  Hilton Cole, Pat Claarbout,Heather Clemancheu, Delwin Goss, Michelle Williams, Dorinda Pulliam ,Patty Ruland, Assemblyman Maggee,Jeanne Chancellor,Ingrid Newkirk,Wayne Pacelle,Ed Sayres, Amy Paulin, Craig Malisow, Matt Pepper, Pat Dunaway,Elizabeth White, Cindy Sabatoni, John Schiff, Ed Boks, Janet Hooks,Susan Willard, Ron Sims, Theresa Chagrin, Ed Boks,Ardena Perry, Teresa Tillman, Steve Talley, Phyliss Daughterty,Best Friends Animal Society, Judie Manusco, La Sonya Hall, Mike Stark , Doug Rae, Waggin Train Rescue, HSUS, ASPCA, AHA, NACA, PETA.  Winograd's outlets did not, however, criticize the Center For Consumer Freedom, or the AKC.  For the more complete list of character assassinations, read his blog, facebook, or those of his mouth pieces he hides behind.. Interesting

 I would suggest that these people understand, that when somebody gets killed, there is a database of haters. The inciting remarks that will lead right back to the point of origin.  That person will be held accountable.The cyberbullies are being indexed, and when the time comes will be prosecuted.The recent attack on Waggin Train shows the progression of violent thoughts in this movement, the publishing of home addresses with the clear intent to send harassment to that poor Nanette's door step. When Mr. Winograd and his lead henchmen ( all lawyers by design ) set their dogs on people they disagree with, they are as accountable as if they had pulled the trigger.

The push is on to inform the public of the unintended consequences of No Kill, the hoarding, the neglect, absence of socialization, overcrowding and warehousing, the deception and the out right lies.  I know, I lived with it.

Praying For The Gift Of Compassion For Our Animal Charges.

I am up to my ears in the Home For The Holiday pitches.  If one more shelter flies the banner of " don't let this pet spend Christmas in the shelter"  it may be more than an old man can bear. Some rescue or other non-profit will be bad mouthing Christmas puppies that will " end up at the shelter" in 3 months when they outgrow their " cuteness".  Of course, all the animals flowing into shelters will be unwanted purebreds purchased thru a pet store, and bred in a puppy mill...not one single muttley will be returned.  Since Thanksgiving the mall storefronts have been hawking " puppies and adults dogs, give the gift of love" the dogs are in small cages and people walk by and " look them over" ..They take them for test walks and let the little ones pull the ears to check their temperment ( the dogs not the little ones )  It's one of the most barbaric practices going these days. I'm not describing a pet store, though I could be, I'm discussing off-site adoption from a storefront.  We long ago banned pet stores. I don't have issue with an " adoption event" where various groups bring animals looking for homes to meet families looking for pets.  I am talking about the impulse adoptions taking place in a mall near you, that will bring a return is a very short time..
I am grateful the the No Kill concept is almost dead, it's caused animal cruelty beyond measure, it co-signed hoarding, and lowered standards of adoption.  Even NW himself talks little about it these days.  He asks the visitors to send him 10 dollars and he will send them a signed book, isn't that a bookseller ?  We know that is his trade, but I think it's grand that he is being so obvious about it. If he didn't need Mr. Pickles to appear humanoid he would never have owned a dog.
We must exercise caution as we celebrate the demise of the demented, there are more loons waiting in the wings.  Shelters must return to triage,The Asillomar Accords were brutal is stating that the only way to get the adoptables into a home was to remove the unadoptable from the system.  Spay and neuter is the only long term solution, in our States (we have two homes ) all animals released from the shelter system ( into a home ) must be fixed, that is a darn good start.   Unfortuanately, we are still allowing rescue to be responsible for altering , that needs to end.  Nobody should get any pet out of any shelter unless the animal is neutered, period.All animals should be microchipped to the shelter that releases them with that number kept permanently along with the animals new owner.  Mr. Winograd suggested that NHS not register the microchip for a week so that returns don't show up in their system, his wording was a little more delicate..
I celebrate the Birth of Christ, that is my belief, it saddens me to see it used to creat misery for the animals.  I frankly am relieved that the Nevada Humane Society didn't show up in Newtown Ct.  offering discounted puppies and kittens to help survivors with their grief..  Let 2013 be the year we put No Kill to rest forever and come up with a rational method of saving lives for adoptable animals.
In Christ's Love
Chap

Merry Christmas..

Last Christmas we still had our Oreo, the Girly Dog.  This year we consider ourselves fortunate to still have Burley Dog after his heart attack.   Our lives are truly blessed with our critters and our many friends.  Miss Priss looks so tiny, and yet, such a fireball........She could pull Santa's sleigh, even tho some people think " sledding" is animal cruelty :)  We took them for their walk this morning which was rather challenging with the icy walks, no gratitude from the peanut gallery. They have 4 paw drive, it was us who were " windmilling" down the street. I'm sure we made quite a procession, in our stocking hats and red scarves and the Newfies in their Christmas bibs..

It has been a splendid year, some hard losses, but many inroads were gained into animal sheltering.  I hope the dreaded No Kill philosophy suffers a quick and fairly painless euthanasia in 2013.  In it's place we shall incorporate, tolerance, and compassion.  Quality of life versus warehousing, a place where animal and caregiver both can get their needs met.  Several outlets have been shut down to the lies and cruel people who put their agenda against the welfare of millions of animals.  I don't believe Maddie's fund had any idea of the low caliber types that would come out of the wood work or they would have taken their 300 million and gone to Target :)

Oreo is somewhere I can't see or touch her, yet she remains very much here, in her rocker watching me type.  As I travel amongst animal groups I'm amazed at how many people first found hope against No Kill on Oreo's little blog......thank you..

Open Door Shelters, Changing Lives For Everyday Animals.

Merry Christmas from Benny !!  We feature mostly shelter dogs on this blog, but we enjoy showing the " finished product".  I have not found the mangy pictures, followed by harrowing shelter nightmare stories do much to help the animals.  I know to many good people, and good dogs, to perpetrate the myth on either end of the spectrum.  Not every shelter dog will be
" saved" and when HSUS presents a holiday picture of a puppymill dog, living " happily ever after" I wish it would mention the percentage of those that are beyond saving.  To do otherwise bolsters No Kill's ridiculous claim, that animals don't have " time stamps".  Nor have I found the shelter " killing for fun" that Yes Biscuit depicts.  Shelters like their inhabitants, and surrounding communities are a reflection of ourselves, and our committment to making things better.Sometimes they are a testement to our apathy......There is no magic someone, somewhere who will sweep in and make a striking change, there is no clear cut villain we can hate.  Open Door Shelters are the only hope for a healthy animal population.  There will be euthanasia, always, because so many times animals come into the shelter broken beyond repair.  Sometimes it's a very decent owner who has done the best they could with the dog they had.  We are seeing that frequently with the NoKill mentality putting animals up for adoption that should never be released.  I hope you will Google Lessons from Layla, Luke's Story, it's the most accurate depiction of whats going on today.
Oreo has always pushed for the accountability of owners, but that only works when the truth is part of the adoption process.. I have little patience for the person who doesn't check out what they are getting, and brings it back, but when facts are manipulated, who do you blame ?  If you turn your dog over to an Open Door Shelter ( I think we should brand that ) and tell the person behind the counter that your dog has killed a couple of cats then snapped at the baby, that dog will appropriately be removed from the system.  We must cease releasing aggressive dogs, we have enough that aren't aggressive to be placed.......Sometimes these dogs are put into what I call "postponed euthanasia " situations, the people who do this type of fostering see it as giving the dog " one more chance" people who have been in the trenches for over 15 minutes see it differently...We covered this in the Mario story, best use of resources is not saving the animals with the least prognosis for permanent placement.  Otherwise  we are recycling animals.  The only way the No Kill can work is to limit admission, it doesn't work well even then because the animals deteriorate in shelter.  The edges of the No Kill picture are always shifting, trying to play catchup with one idea or another that just didn't work.  Now Mr. Winograd is talking about taking dogs and giving them back to the same neighborhoods that called the shelter in the first place.   I don't know how one argues with a mental defective, I would gather, not very well....

Stop No Kill, Do The Math

This old man thought it was time to say what so many of us mean.  Stop the No Kill Crazy Train.  That's my granddaughter's language and it feels very appropriate. I want to pause a minute and say hello to Terri Fulks of Titusville Florida, Terri works for No Kill Brevard County and has us on her feed.  I always hope when the other camp drops by, they stay long enough to learn.  I know Terri doesn't miss a word because she critiques my style and spelling on her FB page as she shares us with her many friends.  I urge everyone to follow all the " NoKill " FB pages and learn what the acolytes believe, now don't ask them to explain it, because they can't, but it helps us feel compassion for their naivette'.  My personal mantra is
" This is not a bad person, this is a sick person, God save me from being angry"  Now if that's a little deeper than you want to go, do what you must.; however; don't engage them. I do the dot system like we have in shelter with slightly different meanings. Red Dot signifies absolutism, never waste my time on a done deal, Green Dots are already aware of the failure of No Kill ( don't preach to the choir ), that leaves us with the Yellow Dots, that group has potential, they can be educated.  They may have picked up some ideas that are wrong, but they can learn, and that is who we want to teach.  Terri doesn't want to learn, but we let her come anyway.  If people like her and Lucy , and especially Marilyn, keep hanging around here there is a chance that they will learn some technique that may allow an animal some comfort while in their care.
The Ol' Chap has learned a lot in 5 years of dealing with No Kill, none of it makes me want to see this ugly baby get any bigger.
Oreo and I brainstorm for hours on a wish list of how we would reduce shelter population.
  Targeted spay/neuter for low income families. ( Canine and Feline )
Mandatory spay/neuter for all animals released from any shelter, before placement, no contracts...they don't work.
No Feral Cat Program
Triage at end of stray period, begin by getting all the adoptable animals on the floor first.
Bottle babies are not viable as a mandatory population, do case by case, and ask yourself, will there be homes for all those litters, because most pit mixes are adopted at 8 weeks and returned at 8 months.  That is not the best use of resources.
Admission based on contractual agreements, public shelters would place only municipal limitations on intake.  No turning away of local pets and no importation from out of area.
Placement partners would be approved and inspected.  Rescues are a major problem in many areas. Compliance with law and zoning is a must.
Owner requested euthanasia would be done promptly at intake to avoid stressing the animal in a strange environment.  Very few dogs are afraid when the owner brings them into the shelter, it's like going to the vets, many times the vets take animals down the hall for procedures, lets try to mimic that experience.
Don't make excuses for a dog or cats bad behavior, to many without behavior issues are dying.. Back to triage.  The last thing I want to hear is why the dog bit, the truth is; it bit.
When you take out the " stock killing, biting, chronic barking, resource guarding, house soiling, separation anxiety" dogs, you will be able to place the rest in a permanent home.  We need to clear the system of animals that will never live in a permanent home.  Oreo addressed that in " Another very nice dog"
In Christ's love
Chap
Taking the life of any animal is a BIG DEAL, go ahead and cry if you need, it's the human thing to do.  I've met techs who have come to a place of acceptance, that's beautiful when it happens.  A pet without a home is a frightened animal in constant danger, and life in the shelter quickly breaks them down.  For a homeless animal without recourse, euthanasia is humane.