Monday Night Fight

Tenacious D vs Kid DynAMite

Yep, she was out of the crate playing last night and she's one heckuva scrapper. They were so good on their walk before supper, I let them play with her on lead in the backyard then walked them again. Desite encounters with more dogs than normal, including two who got out of their fences (one whose owner ran out after him and one whose owner was nowhere to be found), the latter of which is a huge retriever type the size of a Newf that felt the need to charge us and go after both dogs and me, things went swimmingly well on day 2. Dyna for her part, showed her bull side when we were all charged (the big dog came after us barking and growling for 1/2 the block) but they both followed my lead. I let them play in the house all night and there was only one incident (despite Dyna's propensity to steal toys) that they recovered from quickly - I did crate her overnight to be on the safe side.

The pic is not from their scrap but from them playing. I'd been told they love to wrastle, but was surprised how vicious it looks in a snapshot. There was no growling, barking or anything of real concern - I will, however, keep an eye on their mutual love of mouthplay.

Tags: dogs; dog aggression; rescue animals

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"test cat"

I've been focusing on two things lately: the work I do to pay the mortgage and the work I'm doing with Dudley. A couple of weeks ago I posted about Dudley's home playdate with Bandit, but for the past few weeks he's also been spending a considerable amount of time at daycare with a Katrina rescue that's been fostered by the fine folks who run his "camp". His new friend's name is Dyna and she's a 14-month old American Bulldog mix (my guess is the mix is pointer) who's still riding high on puppy power and they've been seeing each other in day-care 3 times per week for a couple weeks. For the most part things have gone well, the only time Dud acts poorly is if she's still jumping on his head after 8 hours of play and he's ready to call it a night. Last week, I knew I had to go out of town for a meeting, so I switched Dud to Tues/Thursday daycare (actually Tuesday daycare with boarding starting Thursday morning) and left the office early on Wednesday to see how well Dudley would react to Dyna coming to his house. My friend, co-worker, and all around crazy animal lady, Diane (Bandit's mommy) came to help. They were great on lead immediately and walked well together - even when challenged by a rather sizable black retriever (he looks somewhere between a lab and a newf) that used to send Dud on a bark extravaganza. The reaction when we brought Dyna in the house was similar to the one he had to Bandit, though the severity had decreased by at least half in comparison. I was pretty excited at the improvement, called my mom to tell her how well he was doing and, in response to her question of who owned Dyna, heard myself describing the situation by reminding her of the "test cat" the SPCA tossed in front of Dudley to see how he'd react to a cat. I think my mom knows what I'm up to but won't come out and ask because she's afraid she's right. I've always been a total sucker for animals and would probably be the crazy animal lady if it weren't for Dudley's issues. When the folks at the pound told me Dudley would have to be an only dog, my first thought was "good because that's probably the only way to prevent me from increasing my pack". To be honest, even if Dud had no issues, I quickly realized that his presence made the cat's last 4 years less than wonderful so I would have waited until the cat died to consider adopting another rescue anyway. A month after the cat died was the first time Diane asked me if I would consider adopting another dog as one of her friends had come across another coon hound (blue tick female) in desperate need of a home. I prayed to G-d to give me a clear sign - if someone else adopted her immediately, I really needed to wait to consider whether Dud would ever accept another dog. My prayer's were answered, the blue tick was adopted immediately and I was really bummed but figured G-d had said his piece. Unfortunately, I'd been perusing petfinder and other sites and came across dogs I was shocked hadn't been just snatched up and a bunch of coon hound owers looking to get rid of their "needy" adult hounds (for shame, one lady wanted to get rid of her adult dog because it was afraid of the linoleum in the kitchen floor - heaven forbid they put down rugs or replace the flooring). Reading these stories (and watching a Dog Whisperer marathon) reaffirmed that, while I'm not the best owner in the world, I was doing right by Dudley but needed to keep working with him. Dyna was one of the dogs I noticed that needed a forever home. I didn't think she was the cutest dog, but she is an interesting looking one. I decided to focus on Dyna as the "test cat" for 2 reasons: #1 neither Diane nor her friends knew the folks fostering a Chocolate colored Belgian/German Shepherd mix named Desi (honestly, I'd think the uniqueness of her look and the sadness of her story would have made her a quick placement) and; #2 Dyna was fostered at Dud's camp and they weren't hopeful that she'd be placed very soon. Dyna wasn't exactly the smartest one for me to consider, after all I do have a very high-strung, high-energy, poorly socialized and needy pooch (note to self: never adopt the dog version of me) and Dyna bounces off of ceilings and walls (think the old SNL puppy uppers/doggy downers skit). A smart pack leader would be considering a slightly submissive, lower energy dog for the D-man. While I've been out of town, Dudley and Dyna have been playing together at camp. Diane came over after I arrived home to help me bring Dyna home with us. Again, no problem with the walk and it took him a good five minutes before he got all barky about her being in the house. We had Dyna crash in a rather sizable crate - she's made it clear to him that it is her space and showed some major league (though not inappropriate) bull-dog defense of that territory. Diane left shortly thereafter leaving me with the two dogs. I was able to walk them very easily togther (setting them up was a bit messy and confusing - more due to my anxiety than anything). Getting them back in the house was not as easy since Dud pulled his "OK, you can go home now" routine with her. Thirty minutes later:I'll wait until I'm comfortable with Dud and Dyna playing and running loose together in the house to introduce her to her new Grand-dog. . .

Tags: dogs; dog aggression; rescue animals

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so where's the law to require DNA testing of the possible rapists?

The grand state of Tennesee just passed the "Child Rape Protection Act of 2006", which will require retention of embryonic/fetal tissue from any abortion performed on a girl younger than 13 years old. According to the bill's sponsor, Sen. Roy Herron, the TN Bureau of Investigation could use the DNA extracted from the tissue samples to prosecute child molesters. Why do I find this curious? Well, first off, in order to obtain a sample from a suspect you need the suspect (or suspects) to either volunteer to provide a sample or you need to get a warrant (which a requires a valid rationale to obtain). It seems to me that if Herron, et al really sponsored the bill to prosecute child molesters instead of to intimate those wishing to obtain or performing abortions, the bill would have been broader and included mandatory DNA testing of any child born to a girl who would have conceived the child prior to her 13th birthday and mandatory prosecution of the baby's father (if known). Additionally, if child welfare were the issue, in cases where the girl didn't name the father, shouldn't the bill have also mandated DNA testing of all pubescent/post-pubescent males who were known to have contact with the girl? After all, Herron does state his goal is to prosecute these rapists and

most of these rapes are committed by those who know the victim, often go unreported, and are not discovered until days, weeks or months later.

tags: abortion; rape

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Christians without Christ

Every time someone starts talking about "Messianic Jews" (more commonly known a Jews for Jesus) all I want to say is "can a person be Christian without believing in the divinity of Jesus Christ and/or that they need to be 'saved' through Jesus"? For those of you who don't know, one of the biggest deal-breakers between Christianity and Judaism is the fact that the Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth is a divine being they refer to as the messiah through whom they can achieve salvation; Judaism, while being a messianic religion, neither believe that Jesus is the Messiah (Ha Moshiach) nor do they believe that Ha Moshiac is a divine being. No offense to my Christian friends, the whole Jesus as a divine being, triad of father, son and holy ghost and/or praying to saints seems downright antithetical to my very monotheistic yiddishe beliefs.

The reason I bring this up is because a little more than a week after my [now former] admin asked me if I had ever gone to services at a local "messianic synagogue" and I made it clear that I consider my religion a "no saviour" zone, she sent me the following email:

Hello, and almost happy Purim!

I hope you are enjoying this wonderful weather! I am.

I would like to invite you to something that is coming up. They are going to have a Passover Seder at my church on April 1st at 5:30pm, and it will be hosted and explained in light of "Jesus in the Passover Seder" by Jeffrey Miller of Messianic Minutes (the radio program). http://www.messianicminutes.com/ in case you are interested. I think Jeffrey Miller is the guy on the right. He was an athiest before coming to Jeshua as Messiah. I got an extra ticket, and I would love it if you would be my guest. I think you would find it, if nothing else, very informative. There will also be lots of food! :-) Food is ALWAYS good. My first Seder was when my friend [INSERT GENERIC JEWISH FIRST NAME]'s dad, Mr. [INSERT GENERIC JEWISH LAST NAME] was still alive. It was deeply moving and such a blessing for me to see how everything ties together. As you know, I am a student of the Tenach anyway, so to everything come together in all the typology was incredible.

Anyway, let me know if you are interested! :-)

If some devout Christians to be Christian because they don't believe [insert your favorite Christian bible version] bible as the complete and inerrant word of G-d and they will go to hell for not being "real Christians", how can Christians who refuse to admit they're Christian be in any better shape?

Frankly, like most Jews, I don't live my life in the hopes of some great afterlife. The only difference between the way I live my life now and how I would live my life if the existence of G-d were unequivocally disproven would be the fact I'd probably stop conversing with him. My belief in G-d is predicated on a belief that morality/justice/righteousness is not arbitrary and, therefor, neither is G-d. You can use the finest Cognac and truffles for your paté and call it foie gras but it's still chopped liver, and it still doesn't suit my palate.

Tags: religion; Christianity; Judaism; evangelism; jews for jesus

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This is a job for Cesar Millan

Those of you even remotely familiar with me are aware I have a wasabi loving dog to whom I frequently refer to as "Tenacious D" of "The D man". His real name is Dudley and the name fits him to the proverbial T; in other words and if I'd had any idea this goofey Treeing Walker Coonhound was the dog version of me, I would have run in the opposite direction.

I'm Dud's third owner; according to the pound I rescued him from, his first owners never socialized him with other dogs and may have kept him chained up as well. After almost 3 years, they turned him into the pound because he was "too needy". The second owners adopted him (why the pound sent him into another home without neutering him first is beyond me) and brought him home, where they already had another male dog. I don't know if they introduced them outside the home and walked them together before bringing Dudley into the house or not, but mayhem ensued. The second owners supposedly took him to a trainer and worked with him, but turned him in shortly after having him neutered (he still had stitches in when I came across him, they didn't give him a chance to calm down after being neutered). When I picked him up, the girl at the pound told me he could never be with another dog and if I returned him he'd be put down immediately. My first thought was that this was a good way to ensure I didn't adopt every rescue I came across. The aberrant behaviour began immediately after I brought him home: food aggression, fear aggression, dominance aggression and toddler like temper tantrums that lead me to utter "I am the alpha and you are my bitch!" prior to calling the pound for the number of the trainer that had supposedly worked with him and family #2. The pound was no help - to the point my vet was pissed that they wouldn't provide any records about him (including info on his shots) as well as the fact that in order to help this animal, they wouldn't even consider trying to find out who the second family used as a trainer despite the fact it would have been very helpful to turn to someone familiar with Dudley's history. I ended up first taking him to a Penn trained vet and animal behaviorist which helped get us through the worst behaviors (and inadvertently taught Dudley how to lock the front door when the doorbell got on his last nerve). I then put him through a canine good citizen course at a now defunct kennel and training center. Things were going better, he was friendly with a few dogs in the neighborhood but still barked at unknown dogs on walks, but I saw marked progress in him and was willing to deal with him being a hound as long as we were getting through the problem behaviors. Then he had some setbacks with aggressive behvior towards dogs he'd previously been OK with, two I think he would have gotten through if it weren't for the third which involved a beagle (I'm still not sure which of them started it) and his owner who, knowing Dudley's issues, has proceeded to spend the past few years torturing Dudley by stopping to have conversations or dilly dally around the front of our house with the beagle (she lives a few blocks over) while Dudley freaks out watching them through the front window. He became so loud and anxious on walks, I just stopped walking him and decided to tire him out playing in the yard or running around the house because I was embarrassed by having "the bad kid in the neighborhood".

Despite everything, I know he is a pack animal who would be well served spending time with other dogs and taking long walks (as would I since I've gained a lot of weight this year). He supposedly plays very well with the other dogs when I take him to "school" (the place I board him when I have to go out of town for work) so I've been talking to one of my co-workers who does rescue work about his issues and how to best address them. She has four dogs in her pack: 2 great Pyrenees; Bandit the pit-bull mix, and I forget what the 4th is (she also has 4 cats, a bunch of birds and I'm pretty sure the 3 blind mice call her place home as well). Thanks to her, I've been emboldened to start working intensely with Dudley. I started him at school a few times/week and, if I can pick him up and get home at a reasonable time in reasonable weather, I'm walking him again (I use the wacky walkr urban; I highly recommend the brand if your dog still pulls - Dud doesn't pull, but I'm still partial to the leash) and have had mixed results with the innapprorpiate hysteria over other dogs. Yesterday, however, was a trying yet beautiful day.

Yesterday, we had incredible weather so instead of taking Dud down for his first play date with my friend's pack, we decided to have my friend bring Bandit up to meet Dudley and challenge his territorialism. I walked Dudley for about 40 minutes before Bandit arrived, he barked/growled at one new dog in the neighborhood and only let out a few barks at the German Shorthairs down the street. When Bandit got out of the car, it seemed like I heard most of the dogs on my street barking (especially my next door neighbors Aussie, who is normally very quiet but seemed very displeased that some other bitch was on Dudley's turf). Dudley flipped out as expected - we did the both dogs walking up and down opposing sidewalks and I was eventually able to get Dud to pay attention to me while ignoring the Aussie the 2 German Shorthairs and Bandit (it was really funny when Dud was behaving and the German Shorthairs were barking their cute little heads off, since it's usually the other way around). Eventually, my friend and I had the dogs walking well together, side by side, all over the neighborhood. He didn't even bother with the other dogs behind their electric fences. It was amazing to the point we brought both dogs on my front yard and then into my house (both on leash). That part wasn't quite as blissful, with Dudley cycling through aggressive growling and lunging, and calmer periods reacting to my telling him to lay down (putting him into submission). I didn't quite trust Dud to let him and Bandit get closer than a few feet from one another in the house, but the fact I was able to quiet him with her in our house gives me confidence that while I will probably never excude the calm alpha confidence of Cesar Millan, there's hope for Dud (& me) yet.

Tags:animal behavior; dog aggression; dog blogging

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Orthodox/fundamentalist promise ring wearers can have abortions

According to State Senator Bill Napoli, who sponsoered South Dakota's abortion ban, there are limited circumstances under which being impregnanted due to rape would allow a woman to qualify for a legal abortion under the exemption to protect the mother's life:

A real-life description to me would be a rape victim, brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life. [Raw Story]

A victim that is brutally raped as described by Napoli but not considered to be strictly religious or a promise ring wearing virgin would be SOL, as would victims who weren't sodomized as part of the rape, athiests and married women. How considerate, makes me wonder what his qualifications for religious are.

Tags: abortion; religion

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Home Alone. . .since October

This precious brindle pit bull mix pup was left alone to fend for himself in Chester, PA since October. Luckily for him, and whoever adopts him, he was rescued yesterday. Despite the months of neglect and lack of food, the folks that recued him found no signs of aggression, not when eating or when being growled at and charged by an aggressive male dog. He's been given the name Valentino because he's such a loving pup. He was neutered today and is up for adoption.


UPDATE: Valentino was adopted Friday

Tags: pit bull; animal cruelty

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March Missing Monday: Mickalena Nau still missing

37-year old real estate agent Mickalena Nau is still missing almost a month after she disappeared. Nau was last seen withdrawing $100 from an ATM on 4Feb06 and reportedly called 911 around noon that same day. Her car and purse were found 20Feb (4 days after her family reported her missing) a few miles from Nau's home in the Tacony section of Philadelphia.

If you have any evidence of Nau's whereabouts or disappearance, please contact the NE division of the Philly PD at 215.686-3153.





21-year old Marsha Marie Bell has been missing for over a month. She was last seen at approximately 7:00am 29Jan06 at her residence in the vicinity of the 3600 block of NW 21st St. in Lauderdale Lakes, FL. Her vehicle is also missing and is described as a white, four door, 1994 Toyota Corolla with FL Lic# P629YS.

Marsha is 5'7", weighs approximately 140 pounds, has brown eyes and black hair, and a scar on her upper left arm. She was last ween wearing a white shirt, long black skirt, black slippers, carrying a rose pink pocketbook with pink wallet inside of purse.

If you have any any information on Bell's whereabouts or disappearance, please contact the Broward county sheriff's department
Phone: (954) 765-4321
Investigative Case #: LL06-01-2470
NCIC #: M-835444072

Tags: Missing Persons; Missing Monday

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