Wednesday, June 24, 2009

FYI, not all professional dog handlers are this dumb!

So, I finally figured out how to save most of the blogs that I read to a feed reader today. I know, I am slow, but I am still figuring out this blogging thing.

I used Google, mainly because I can get it at work and still get my fix, and Google downloads items from your local largest metropolitan area (St. Louis.)

When I went to Google to help C find her way to the doctor's office after a snafu on I-270 left her stranded on a bridge I noticed this announcement, Seven show dogs die after handler leaves them in van in Jefferson County. My heart just dropped.

One of the things I haven't talked about on this site is that my family raises and shows english bulldogs. I can't imagine the pain those dogs must have gone through prior to their death. I know that I shouldn't judge, I have travelled with 5 dogs at a time and it doesn't matter how tired I am, or that I have spent the last 13 hours on the road, the dogs come first! I would post a damn link to this, but I can't figure it out, if anyone out there can help me it would be greatly appreciated.

One of the dogs that died is the top-ranked female Akita in the nation and fourth-ranked over all. That may not mean anything to people who don't show dogs, but it is very, very important! First, even if it is a show dog, it is still (most of the time) a pet. My bullies (Lucy and Elrod) live in our home and we have raised both of them from the time they were babies. On top of that, total how much it costs to show a dog and how much the dog costs.

Most people don't actually make money showing dogs, most people show dogs because they love the dogs and they want to protect the breed that they love. I am just horribly saddened that the owners were not with their pets when they crossed the rainbow bridge, and I am horrified that this young woman appears to have been merely too lazy to move the dogs to a safe place. I live about 30 minutes from her, and on the night in question it never dropped below 85 degrees and the humidity was at nearly 100 percent.

My dogs don't have nearly the fur that the akita and the husky I saw pictures of, but no one leaves my girl (Lucy) outside for more than 10 minutes right now simply because of the danger of the heat. I know that there are handlers out there that will leave their dogs in the big trailers overnight, but they are plugged in and have access to air conditioning.

I almost didn't write about this tonight, but I wanted to remind everyone please take care of all your pets and your children. Don't leave them in a vehicle, they can't take it. The vet said it takes about 8 minutes for a dog to die of heat stroke, however, I know of bulldogs that have lived for upwards of 30 minutes before succumbing to the horrible heat. My heart hurts for these poor animals and their owners.

6 comments:

  1. Good for you figuring out feed readers! I thought I was trying to figure out rocket science (and I design web pages! but it just seemed too hard) - but now I keep up with favorite sites much better. Especially those that are really good but don't update too often. Now I can see right away that they have a new post.

    As for the pets... right now we're waiting for a lab result that will almost surely be a death sentence for my sweet girl Holly. Our old girl Heidi can't be in all the time because she is so incontinent (and blind, and deaf...) but once it gets past 85 outside - you know, around 9 am! - she is in and we'll just deal with the mess. I could never forgive myself if I let her die of heat.

    With the impending loss of my heart dog, I've been looking into fostering rescue dogs - it breaks my heart what some of these dogs have been through, that people can be so heartless.

    (Not prosyletizing here -->) as a Christian I take it very much to heart what Jesus said: "whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done to me." I transfer this to dogs, too - or any person or animal that is helpless. Whatever you do to the most helpless creatures on earth, it's as if you have done it to God himself.

    So I believe there is a special kind of hell reserved for those who abuse the helpless.

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  2. I can help you with links if I can remember blogger! Once I remember, I'll email you :)

    I can't believe someone would do that to those poor poor animals. Stuff like that really really gets to me.

    And English Bulldogs? LOVE THEM. It's my husband's official compromise dog :)

    P.S. This was my layout when I had Blogger

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  3. oh, this is horrible.
    you are brave for reading the article!
    most of the time when i come across something like this, i can't put myself through the torment of reading the despair involved in the story.

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  4. @ Wendy- I know how you feel, we had to put one of our dogs down last year. I had gotten her right after my divorce and she was my most beloved baby. I hope your lab results come back better than expected.

    @Sheila-Thanks! I would welcome any and all help available, I am navigating in the dark.

    @Melissa-thanks for visiting my site, I really only went to the story b/c of the wtf appeal and the fact that it is only thirty minutes from me.

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  5. My dog loves to sit out on the patio and sun herself. I find myself trying to coax her into the house these hot, hot days (104 yesterday).

    She ignores me, much of the time (so, not much different than my kids). But I sneak ice cubes into her water. I'm such a good mom.

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  6. @The mother-we do the same for ours, everybody loves some ice cubes, way to go mom!

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