A few people have asked how Mae is doing, and how advanced her symptoms are. This quick video shows some of her more clearly visibly symptoms – her turned in rear legs, her habit of walking on her knuckles, the drag marks she leaves behind in the snow.
More importantly, it shows her super happy disposition – and illustrates why we’re so happy to have her here with us again!
Another Pit Bull has been involved in an animal cruelty case. This one, in Pennsylvania, involves someone dumping a dead Pit Bull alongside a Hampden Township walking trail. The dog has injuries which are apparently ‘consistent with dog fighting’.
Story here, on the PennLive website –
The Humane Society of Harrisburg is seeking a “person of interest” related to a dead pit bull found December 24 on a walking trail along the Conodoguniet Creek in Hampden Township.
A jogger contacted the Humane Society after media reports about the incident and claimed he saw the man who dumped the badly injured dog. The dog had sustained broken legs and feet, a crushed trachea and lacerations on its legs — injuries consistent with dog-fighting, according to the Humane Society. It was wrapped in a blue vest that appeared to have been used as a gurney, according to the Humane Society.
The jogger described the person of interest as a white male, 6’2″ to 6’4″, medium-length blondish-red hair and round glasses. The jogger said the person had at least five other dogs with him, including a yellow Labrador Retriever.
The Humane Society of Harrisburg Area is seeking this man, described by a jogger who claims to have witnessed him dumping a dead pit bull on a walking trail along the Conodoguinet Creek on December 24 in Hampden Township.
The accompanying sketch of the possible culprit has been released.
A later story states that the “Humane Society of the United States” is offering a $2,500 reward for tips leading to the “identification, arrest and conviction” of those responsible for the dog’s death.
The phone number, however, is still that of the Humane Society of Harrisburg, so I’m not really sure who it is that’s offering the reward. I suppose it doesn’t really matter, so long as the scumbag gets caught, but it would be nice to make sure the correct group is getting credit for having offered it.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Humane Society at 717-564-3320, ext. 104.
Mae makes herself at home
Some of you might recall Mae – she’s our big boned cream girl, also famous for being mom to the uber cute Solo. Mae was placed into a retirement home, but when things got rough for her adoptive mom, she thought it was best for Mae to come back to us. We’re always ready to take back any of our placed dogs, so of course we arranged to pick Mae Mae up.
We knew she’d been experiencing some rear end weakness, and that her vet had been having a hard time coming up with a definitive diagnosis for what was causing it. I’d assumed it was likely arthritis – her vet had speculated it was first stage degenerative disk disease, but in my (thanfully limited) experience with that, it usually comes as a ‘bolt from the blue’. One day, your dog goes to sleep completely normal, the next day, they wake up paralyzed.
Mae’s condition, on the other hand, was slowly progressive.
Angel the golden retriever is shown after a battle with a cougar in Boston Bar, B.C.
A British Columbia boy is alive today thanks to the actions of the family dog. Angel, as the dog is aptly named, fought off a cougar that was preparing to attack 11 year old Austin in the family backyard.
Read the whole story here. Excerpt below –
The way Lloyd Forman sees it, his 11-year-old grandson was saved by an Angel.
That’s the retriever who protected young Austin from a charging cougar during a bloody, against-all-odds confrontation Saturday in the tiny British Columbia community of Boston Bar, about 200 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.
“The cougar came (from) about five feet away and made a big jump (at Austin),” Forman said Sunday.
“The dog jumped in between and took on the cougar.”
Austin was in his family’s backyard collecting firewood with his dog when the cougar appeared.
The cougar charged toward the boy, but Angel stepped in and fought off the large cat while Austin ran inside and other family members frantically called for help.
Forman, 72, was sitting down to a bowl of homemade borscht soup when the telephone rang. It was the boy’s mother.
“They phoned here; the cougar was eating the dog alive, they figured. I said, ’Phone 911,’” Forman recalled. “Fortunately, he (the nearest RCMP officer) was a minute away.”
When the officer arrived, the cougar had Angel under the porch with its teeth around the dog’s neck. The Mountie fired several shots, killing the cougar.
The dog was injured, but is expected to recover. Austin wasn’t hurt.
If ever a dog deserved extra biscuits, that dog would be Angel.
It’s a new year, and international politics are still screwed (Yemen? We have to worry about Yemen now? Where the hell is Yemen, anyway?). That means it’s time to make preparations, and prepare your pets for war.
Better safe than sorry, I always say.
Read the rest on The Oatmeal.
h/t to the ever excellent Bloggess, who’s probably knitting her Pug a tank as we speak.