Two Dog Shorts...An Animal-Friendly Wednesday Journal

Two stories to salve the pain of politics...reminding me that I can find refuge, and meaning, in a commitment to animals:
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"Mr. B", a 3-legged Beagle, saved his owner, a Grayslake, Illinois high-school basketball coach, from a fire that destroyed their home.

The coach was  making a telephone call from the basement of the house, when he heard commotion upstairs.  The dog was "going crazy". Which is saying a lot for a Beagle, a breed that is vocally expressive under normal circumstances.

When the man ran upstairs, thinking a burglar was intruding, he saw the family room going up in flames.  Meanwhile, a frightened Mr. B fled to an upstairs bedroom closet.  The coach ran up to rescue the heroic dog, and the two escaped the house uninjured.

Mr. B had been originally adopted from a rescue shelter by a neighbor's young son.  When the son went to college, he gave Mr. B to the Coach, who agreed to make the dog part of the family as a companion to his three children.

Turns out they wound up saving each other.

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Missouri passed Proposition B, or The Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act, by a narrow margin yesterday.

In my rant here on October 14,  I decried the efforts by many, including Tea Party Movement leaders, to defeat this bill, which would place strict guidelines on the treatment of breeding dogs. 

Missourians can be proud that they passed this bill. I only wonder at those who voted against it.  A compassionate culture should not have a need to enforce laws against cruelty to anyone, least of all helpless creatures.

A Facebook Page devoted to defeating this bill was filled with angry comments from dog-breeders and their supporters. Have a look. Folks like these should not be entrusted with the lives of children, let alone dogs and other animals:


"...let me guess, you think that beef, pork, turkey, chicken, corn, greenbeans, lettace, and just bout everything else comes from the grocery store magicly... dang i wish all stupid treehuggin fairy's would go to California to join their own kind"


"if you do own dogs, HUSU's* goal is to one day rid of all pets what so ever. If you own any pure bred dogs, the price of them is going to go through the roof. ALL ASIDE WHO ARE WE TO SAY HOW MANY DOGS A PERSON CAN OWN, THIS IS THE UNITED STATES IF WE CAN PROVIDE FOOD AND WATER FOR 1000 DOGS WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO OWN THEM." (*Humane Society of the U.S.)


"you have some kind of nerve supporting a bill that will kill thousands of well cared for dog, and then coming and rubbing it in. I am not a dog breeder, but how dare you vote to put thousands of hard working americans our of buisness. Get ready for a tax increase you idiot"


"You are a waste of human flesh and you deserve to be ground up into dog food"

"The moral character of a society is reflected in the way it treats its animals."  --Gandhi

Shine the spotlight on the compassionate....  Thank you, Missouri....