Goodbye Phoenix and a prayer

From the Humane Society of Durham Region:

On October 2, 2009 Phoenix passed away peacefully, surrounded by the people who loved him most. In the two days prior he had stopped wanting to eat, spent most of his time sleeping and showed little interest in the things that had been giving him joy.

At his scheduled vet appointment on Friday it was decided that the time had come to put him down. His foster parents Tracy and Mike, Debby Houghton the investigator on his case and Ruby Richards, the shelter manager were all with him at the end giving him hugs and kisses.

Special thanks go to the clinic staff who spent so much time working with him and who were in tears at his passing. Thanks also go to the public for all of their support for him during the past few months.

Thanks also to all the media for their help in getting his story out to the public.

We are still looking for leads in his case. If anyone has anything that might be pertinent to this case please call Debby Houghton at 905-433-2022 ext. 2.


Phoenix deserves a thousand tears but do we have tears enough for the thousands of other dogs that have died and will die from the neglect and abuse of their owners, from the atrocious dog killing laws of this province, from puppy millers and mercenary backyard breeders, from hoarders and other well-intentioned psychotics, from medical experimentation in research facilities and veterinary schools, from gun shot wounds and stab wounds and gasoline burns and breaking of bones and dragging behind cars, from being thrown out of windows and hit with hammers and fed poison and scalded with boiling water, and perhaps worst of all, allowed to fade and then die alone in a cage?

There is a Pit Bull at animal services right now who has colon cancer and shits puddles of blood every day in his kennel. It is on pain killers. The owner doesn't care or doesn't know or maybe just doesn't have the resources or the wherewithal to take care of the dog properly. It doesn't matter. The dog is neglected. The dog is sick. The dog should be euthanized but the rules say no, not yet, there has to be a waiting period, a few more days.

The dog stares at me from behind its bars and I can barely look at it as I pass it by to take out the other dogs. This dog, looking out, hoping for a moment of attention of concern of respite of tenderness of companionship and at the same time there is mistrust in his eyes, a fierceness that might lash out. And who can blame it, given these conditions at the end of its life. This dog waits for salvation and the only thing that will save this dog is death. Will someone mourn the loss of it, it's last days of lonely suffering before a meaningless end?

There are thousands of unwanted dogs of all breeds and ages in this province who will die hard deaths and who cries for them?

When we lament the loss of Phoenix, let us also give a thought to the all the others who die unknown, unloved and in silence.

Cookie and Coco: 2 Labs forever looking for a home on the internet

I've gotten this about five times in the last two week:

ANY PET LOVERS LOOKING FOR TWO LABS?

Subject: Seeking Home for 2 Family Dogs- Two gorgeous labs trained
If you can't help, please forward & thank you!
Two gorgeous labs - trained - Seeking Home for Family Dogs


Cookie and Coco
Even if you cant take them, please pass this around!
Contact: Katherine xxxxxx@yahoo.com

We are moving overseas in just 2 weeks. Unfortunately, I have still not been able to find a good home for Cookie and Coco. We're not able to take our beloved doggies with us and I've been desperately trying to find a home for both of them together. They were raised together and pine without each other. The Lab rescue have already said that they would probably separate them, so this is my last resort. Recently I tried to take Coco out in my car alone and she TOTALLY refused to even get into the car without Cookie......!!!! She absolutely pulled back on her haunches until Cookie was by her side.

Both doggies are in great health, have been spayed and have ID chips implanted under the skin.

Cookie turned 3 December 10th and Coco turned 3 April 1st. Cookie is my mellow-yellow, and just loves her tummy rubbed. Coco is adorably funny and lives for her "ball." She also loves the water...... Cookie loves lots of attention. Both doggies are loyal and love to walk. They have been raised with my 3 kids running around all over the place, and have survived Sammy's constant hugging and love of 'dress-up', so they are fantastic family dogs. This is by far one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make, but under the circumstances I have no choice.

Please, please forward these pics to all your friends. I want to find a great home for these fabulous doggies. They are just adorable and it ' s heartbreaking to let them go. In a perfect world, I hope that we could find someone local so that we can still keep in touch and visit them. I pray that someone, somewhere can help us keep Cookie and Coco together, and love them just as much as we do. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. xxxxxx@yahoo.com

The first time I got this, I was a little concerned but didn't know how to feel about the "I'm moving so I have to give my dogs away" reasoning. By the fifth time this hit my inbox, I was starting to think something was fishy about the whole thing.

Here's the story behind the story from Paws & Effect: Finding Cookie and Coco a Home.

... pretty soon the tide out there in the blogosphere turned from chirpy do-gooder optimism to irritated skepticism. ("I have e-mailed this person a couple of times & NO response ... so I [am] starting to believe this is a total scam!" — Hackettstown, N.J., Feb. 12.)

Pages upon pages of Google search results yielded more confusion and second-guessing. It started to look like Coco and Cookie don't even exist.

But they do.

Just ask Sas Behzadi of Woodland Hills, Calif.

"It was the day of the inauguration," recalled the 37-year-old, who requested the use of her nickname instead of her real name, due to the backlash she's received from some not-so-pleasant animal activists. "I had been looking for a home for both of my dogs together for over four months. My house was in foreclosure, and I knew it was a bad time."

After a series of personal misfortunes, the mother of three found herself finally able to afford the rent at a local apartment building — but dogs over 25 pounds were prohibited. So, she sent out one last e-mail plea to her friends in hopes of finding a new home for her 3-year-old dogs.

You can read the rest here, but long story short, the dogs were rehomed quite a while ago.

At least that's if you believe the article. Some out there are claiming that this e-mail is a complete hoax which has been circulating for a couple of years now. Me, I'm wondering why there's that line about moving overseas when the owner of the dogs is only moving across town.

Whatever. This e-mail is now officially a waste of time.

Giant #2

(A big shout out to Kew Beach Veterinary Hospital for doing the spay/gastro on Tyra)

I promised you another and here she is. Meet Tyra, English Mastiff extraordinaire. She's just back from her spay and gastropexy so she only got a short walk today but even on her short walk, she turned a lot of heads.


TAS did not want to risk a repeat of what happened to George happening to Tyra so they decided on doing the gastropexy which is an operation that tacks the stomache to the abdominal wall to help prevent bloat - bloat being one of the major causes of death, and a painful one, in giant breeds.


Not to be mercenary about this but whoever gets Tyra is going to be getting one helluva deal. I'm not sure how much brindle English Mastiffs are going for these days but a couple of thousand or more wouldn't be unrealistic. On top of that, add the giant breed spay cost and the gastropexy and we're looking at a few thousand dollars worth of dog.

And Tyra is one amazing dog. Of course she's spectacular to look at and she's also totally luvable and easy going. She does pull slightly on the leash but that's more just her weight walking along and will be easy to correct.


One look at her jowls and it's a pretty safe bet she'll be a slobber bus in warmer weather. I'm sure it's nothing a bath towel can't handle.


At first, I thought there was something wrong with the base of Tyra's tail but, nope, it's just naturally huge. She could probable break planks with that thing.

Look for both Tyra and the other giant, Rufus, on CP24's Animal House Calls this coming week, Tuesday at 5:15 and repeated throughout the week.

A little more about Tyra here.

For adoption information on Tyra and other dogs (and cats and other animals), please visit Toronto Animal Services.

Three for the road - pictures

(Continued from here)

Spike is a handsome lad with a very classic Pit Bull look. He's got those super short cropped ears because his previous owner wanted a tough looking dog to macho up his own penile self image. Rumour is that Spike was used by this small membered owner to sic on someone but all the dog managed was a nibble. Ah, poor Spike. Tough guy image with a mouth that's only good for kissing.





Malakai is my new litmus test. I show people her photo and if they don't smile I suggest they go take a hot bath to thaw out their frozen hearts.



Here she is doing her happy happy joy joy shuffle.



Inappropriately named Nitwit is friendly with all and is a prime example of how unjust and stupid our Ontario anti-Pit Bull laws are when they target these dogs as a breed. The citizens of this province might be better served if our pandering political law makers came up instead with breed specific legislation against people who kill cyclists with their cars.



Here's young Nitwit playing fetch for probably the first time in her life.



Ten minutes later, with the help of some treats and guidance, she was returning the ball and releasing it fairly successfully. Not a nitwit at all.

Department of No Shit Sherlock

On CBC's The Current this morning there was an interview with primatologist Frans de Waal (who's plugging his new book, The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society) about empathy in animals and how, what a surprise, it actually exists - as does self awareness.

Part of the interview discusses some recent experiments at McGill university where some guy tests empathic behaviour in mice by subjecting them to pain while another mouse is in the same cage as the one being tortured. So mice are empathic but what's that say about humans?



It's good to see that science is sort of starting to catch up with what any empathic dog owner already knows. I've never understood why it is that when an animal exhibits obvious emotional traits, we diminish it by labeling it "instinct" but when people display emotional traits, we consider it something noble and profound. That just seems to me to be one of the few emotional traits humans have in abundance which other animals don't: conceit.

Toronto Animal Services Friday review, Oct. 2

Busy week and I haven't had a chance to photo all the new dogs yet but here's the first.

St. Bernard Rufus is huge! But he's also sick. I don't think I've seen so much snot since kindergarten. His super laid back personality may have something to do with his illness but right now he's like a 140 pound pillow on legs - and this is him on the skinny side. When he's on leash, he just sort of saunters right beside you and doesn't pull at all. This big bear definitely needs some TLC and will hopefully be back in good spirits soon.


Good news about Rufus here.

For adoption information on these and other dogs (and cats and other animals), please visit Toronto Animal Services.

Ignorance is bliss

Here's a summary of the Toronto Humane Society annual general meeting held yesterday:
Ignore, deny, repeat

I think I recognize that meeting strategy from the CIA school of media management (or some such thing).

As expected, all five of Trow's candidates got in since he had over 700 proxy votes under his control - which just goes to show that an uninformed, thoughtless membership is just as dangerous as any autocrat.

A big part of the problem with the THS is a membership that continues to donate money to and support an organization without knowing what that money or authority is being used for, without demanding improvements, without even bothering to ask any questions. It's easy enough to drop a few dollars into an envelope to help oneself feel good but that doesn't mean it's helping any animals.

Articles about what's been happening at the THS have been published in all four of Toronto's papers. There's also something called Google where if someone types in the words Toronto Humane Society, there will be about 100,000 hits with some of the most prominent links leading to stories detailing the problems at the institution. Or, if the internet is unavailable or unfamiliar then a member can always pay a visit to the THS, walk around, look, ask questions.

Ignorance on this issue is no excuse especially if that ignorance leads to harm. It's like buying blood diamonds from Africa. Ignorance at this point in time is no longer an excuse.

Voting members at the THS should be required to be active participants in the organization even if that means just stepping into the facility once a year to check it out to see if it's doing what it's supposed to be doing. That would be the first step towards an informed membership and not just one that buys feel good credits.

For people who just want to donate money, no strings attached - fine, but no voting priviledges for them. And you know what? I bet they wouldn't even care. Seriously, if they don't care enough to stay informed, why would they care who's running the place? I know this verges on being politically incorrect and that it may seem like some kind of radical departure from some people's ideas of the way a charity should be run but as it is right now, the management at the THS could turn the place into a pet store or a mini-putt course or a parking lot and the majority of the voting membership would still likely support them.

The only time a democracy works well is when the populace has access to the truth otherwise the government could just make up all sorts of lies to keep people from acting up. That's why a strong, independent media is so important. That's why a fact based, secular education is so important. The only time an ignorant populace is desirable is when the governing body wants to stay unchallenged in power.

It's the same for the THS. An uninformed, complacent membership may be good for the people at the top to stay at the top, regardless of who that may be, now or in the future, but that's not a good thing for the creatures under their roof. Generally, board members who want to maintain power just to bolster their egos or their resumes are looking out for themselves first and the animals second, if at all. These power for power's sake personality types may be happy with a see no evil, hear no evil membership but that works against the prime function of a humane society which is to look after the welfare of animals. A directorship should not be used for the sole purpose of giving someone bragging rights.

Voting members need to stay informed. They should be required to stay informed. Do-gooders who do no good are no help to the animals in need.

The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star both have articles covering the AGM, here and here. The THS Protest Group has its summary here and there is also a write up at Social Mange.