Category Archives: pets

vick: can you say dog?

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Michael Vick, the disgraced football player who has just pleaded guilty to involvement in dog fighting, was just on my TV. Live. He made a statement, accepting full responsibility for his actions and apologizing to everybody including the children of the world for his poor judgment. He may overestimate their prior adulation of him, but that’s neither here nor there.

He says through the experience of “this situation” he found Jesus. Good. Maybe there’s a kindly pastor there in Atlanta who can teach Vick to say the word dog, which he never uttered once. And help him to understand that when one confesses his sins, it’s customary to say what they are.

For goodness sake Vick, you asshat, tell the children what you did. Tell them it was wrong, evil, and nobody should hurt animals, and urge them not to do that thing. If you don’t, what good are you now?

my precious

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Want to see something extremely cute? Check out Rusty, a friend’s cat. Pay special attention to what he’s carrying.

Now that he’s famous, he’s ready to meet with his agent.

life lessons

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My email this morning includes one from a friend. It’s the story of a veterinarian called to the home of a wolfhound dying of cancer, to put the dog to sleep.

The dog’s owners wanted their 4-year-old son to be with them as their pet was sent ahead, in order that he learn from the experience.

Afterwards, the vet and the couple were discussing the heartrending difference in life spans of humans and pets. Why are their lives so much shorter than ours?

The little boy offered this:

People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life — like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right? Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don’t have to stay as long.

I don’t know, but I’ve known many wonderful dogs, cats, a few birds, some rats, a turtle, a I’ve met some horses. And I’ll say this about them: they all seemed smarter and wiser than humans. I sense older souls; a deeper, truer participation in the spirit of life, and a greater joy in living. They seem to know something I don’t know. Maybe it has something to do with Now.

Perhaps the little boy is wrong. It’s not that they know how to love everybody and be nice, but that it’s something unknowable. They don’t know it, they just do it.

a dog’s life

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What’s it worth?

Moves to raise the legal status of pets may lead to damage awards. But there are other issues.

If you think of Rover and Fluffy as members of the family, you may figure you could collect damages for pain and suffering if they were to die as a result of wrongdoing.

The law in California and many other states sees things differently. It treats pets as personal property, just like cars and computers.

But that could be changing.

Interesting article on the legal ramifications of changes in the way damages for pet death are viewed, as well as the trend toward viewing pets as more than property. You all know that I’m seriously into pets. But I have a problem with calling myself a “guardian,” because it implies that I have less than complete owner’s rights. I don’t want anyone else telling me how to care for a pet, cruelty notwithstanding. This article touches on that topic too.

[LA Times]