Pictures

These are some pictures that have been taken since Halloween.  I still have four or five rolls that need to be developed.

Poop

Tomorrow I have two doctor's appointments.  One is with the eye doctor to get my prescription for my contacts and the other is with my oral surgeon.  I'm not looking forward to my appointment with the surgeon.  They're not doing surgery tomorrow but I'll get the date as to when they will be doing surgery.  Part of me hopes it's not this month and the other part of me wants it to be done and over with.  I really like food so not being able to eat anything is going to suck.  I'll have to survive off jello and vodka.    I've got to get some kind of fun out of it.  All I can think is that it's really really going to suck.  And I really really don't want to do it.  Maybe I'll use my gift card to the spa the weekend before I have to go.

Video

This is a link to the video I made of me, Shawn and Jasmine

 

http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=2a64369460acf6d36b1e3

Washington Post Review of Dealing Dogs

  By Chip CrewsWashington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 21, 2006; Page C01

A dog's trusting, imploring face is a tragic sight if you know the trust isn't going to be rewarded. But that's just the first layer of the tragedy in "Dealing Dogs," a fierce and unsparing documentary airing tonight on HBO.

This 75-minute film begins by informing us that research labs and veterinary schools buy 65,000 dogs a year. Of those, 42,000 come from pounds, shelters and small breeders -- rounded up and sold by what are called Class B dog dealers. "Dealing Dogs" then tells the story of a six-month undercover investigation of the kennel owned by a man described as America's most notorious Class B dealer.

<IMG class="" height=190 alt="" src="http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2006/02/20/PH2006022001592.jpg" width=209 align=top border=0 research.? in use for destined dealers, B to consigned dogs of fate the examines Dogs? Dealing> "Dealing Dogs" examines the fate of dogs consigned to Class B dealers, destined for use in research. (Hbo)
 

At the outset, it's 2002 and a young man called "Pete" has arranged for a job at the Martin Creek Kennel in Williford, Ark. As he walks down a very long row of overcrowded pens, certain dogs try to connect with him, pleading for freedom or food or maybe just a little reassurance. But if he's to do his job, he needs to remain indifferent to them and the many hundreds of others he'll encounter there.

All of the dogs are doomed; the only question is how much abuse they'll endure before they die.

(Class B dealers are licensed and overseen by the Department of Agriculture through the Animal Welfare Act, we are told. But officials of Last Chance for Animals, the small animal rights organization that sent Pete on his mission, assert that the USDA does little or nothing to ensure that these dogs are treated humanely. In addition, they say, many of the dogs sold by Class B dealers are stolen pets.)

It's winter when Pete starts his job at Martin Creek. Part of his job is hosing down the pens, which sprays water and filth all over the dogs and their food and leaves them to dry slowly in the cold. Pete cannot let on, but the conditions appall him.

"They have nothing to do but sit in the same pen with three other dogs, fight over food and live in [bleep]," he says. "I mean, they're going cage-crazy."

Filmmakers Tom Simon and Sarah Teale never flinch in their depiction of this hellhole, which federal authorities shut down for good last year, partly on the strength of Pete's undercover work. Some of the footage straddles the line between painful and sickening. Dead dogs, dying dogs, dogs in various stages of starvation, dogs covered with hideous bite wounds, dogs with their ears half-chewed off -- all are prominent in the eye of Pete's hidden camera. Dogs with heartworm are shot so that the worms can be harvested for sale to researchers; apparently they fetch a higher price than the dogs themselves.

Dogs that are deemed to be biters, however scanty the evidence, are put down. We see a perfectly friendly cocker spaniel shot to death for just that reason. After pulling the trigger, the shooter shrugs and says, "Oh well, what the [bleep]." After lobbing the body onto a pile of carcasses, the man cries out jauntily, "Ex-dogs!"

Pete's camera also records visits from "bunchers," who come to the kennel three times a week to sell dogs. Nobody asks where the dogs came from, but given the number of purebreds and the number that look to humans for kindness and caring, it seems apparent that at least some of them were pets.

Bunchers receive $10 to $15 a head -- yes, they use livestock terminology -- and the kennel in turn sells the dogs for about $250 each.

This is hard material, and by the end, the parade of hopeless suffering becomes a strain to watch. It's easier to read about 65,000 dogs coming to various grievous ends than it is to watch just one of them wincing and limping through open wounds and malnutrition, and this film shows us many scores of victims.

There's a double sense of hopelessness here, of course: Pete and his allies are striving to bring about proper care for dogs that are going to be sold for various forms of research.

"We knew there were horrific things that go on at the experimentation labs where these dogs go to, but we didn't expect to see that here right at the kennel," he says.

In other words, it's a kind of half-victory they're seeking -- some trace of decent care before the later, seemingly inevitable terrors begin.

The film is poky in places; we could take Pete's search for housing on faith and dispense with his tour of the trailer he settles on. And the legal marathon that ensues after his evidence is presented to the authorities comes at us in rather tedious detail. Clearly the filmmakers wanted to honor this mission, but their methods do a minor disservice to the documentary.

That said, if you have felt the trusting-searching-adoring glow of a dog's eyes -- one of life's very special joys -- you might take a vital interest in the endeavors of these dedicated animal lovers. Just be aware that watching this powerful film could make you awfully, achingly sad.

Links

LCA - Last Chance for Animals  Or  http://www.lcanimal.org/

This is the website for the animal rights group that helped with the investigation into the Class B dog dealers.

Documentary

I watched this documentary on HBO last night.  It was so sad.  It's called Dealing Dogs.  It was all about Class B dog dealers.  They sell dogs to laboratories and university's for testing.  The kennel they had these dogs in was disgusting.  They were keeping at least four dogs per cage.  They didn't get enough food or water.  Lots of dogs died either of starvation, being attacked by other dogs or were killed by the workers at the kennel.  An animal rights activist from Last Chance for Animals was able to go undercover at this kennel.  I don't know how he did it.  I would've killed those assholes after dealing with all their shit.  At one point in the documentary, you see a small dog.  I don't think he was more than five months old.  The undercover agent went to pet the dog and the guy who was taking him on a leash said not to because he bites.  He then proceeded to slam the dogs face into the ground, where the dog did try and bite him.  He took the dog into the yard and had another one of the guys shoot him twice in the head because he wasn't any good anymore.  It was terrible.  At another point, the agent was getting ready to clean cages and he saw a female beagle in the back of the cage, he assumed she was dead until he saw her eyes darting back and forth, she was in shock.  She had been attacked by the other dogs in her cage.  He proceeded to tell one of the guys that the dog needed medical attention and he said he'd given her something but not to worry, she'd be dead in the morning.  He was right.  She was still in the back of her cage and had died sometime in the night.  The USDA is supposed to check up on these kennels to make sure that the animals are under humane conditions.  The agent witnessed a visit by the USDA... they did nothing.  Reported no violations.  After recording over 700 hours of video, he turned it into the USDA.  It took them several years but they eventually prosecuted.  The owners were forced to pay over quarter of a million dollars, could face up to 1.2 million in penalities, were forced to give up their 700 acre farm and could face up to 10 years in prison.  I've seen a lot of cruelty documentaries but I think this was the worst one yet. 

Sickly

Jamine's sick, Shawn's sick, I'm sick.  My house is a science experiment.  Over the weekend, Jasmine was bad enough that we had to take her to the doctor.  She was coughing and throwing up.  I was worried she would dehydrate.  The doctor we saw said it was the flu, I think it's something else.  I've had the flu, this isn't the flu.  It's not quite that awful feeling.  Just a lot of coughing and phlegm.  She's been a little more cranky than usual but not too terrible.  It looks like Christmas in our living room.  Everyone bought her toys to try and make her feel better so there are new toys every along with the boxes they came in.  I wish I got toys everytime I got sick.  All I get is popsicles.  =)

I swear, Jasmine will never get any teeth in.  She still just gums everything to death.  It would be much easier to introduce her to new foods if she had some chompers to eat with.  She's recently learned how to wave bye bye and she actually said it to my brother today.  Whether she was saying on purpose or not, I don't know.  He was walking out of the room at the time.  She's also trying to say Kitty.  Once and a while when she pulls herself up, she'll let go and see how long she can balance.  It's only a matter of time now.