Dog

Categories Dog, Rants

Officer shot a dog, again.

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This one’s all over and lots of folks have commented on it.

The short form: An officer responding to a domestic disturbance call pulls his firearm before even seeing a person, except he’s got the wrong address, so when the home-owner and his dog wander out from behind the house the cop shoots the dog.

Ok, I’ve read several blog posts on this, most are disgusted at the shooting of another dog, at a wrong address on top of things.  I did run across one blog, by a cop I believe though I don’t read there often, who kept insisting that the officer has the right to defend himself  from an attacking dog and thats what this is so you all shut up.  Don’t have a link, if you all recognize this let me know and I’ll link, oh, and in case it wasn’t obvious I’m paraphrasing based on my faulty memory, cause I don’t have the link.

First off, the cop pulled his gun LONG before he saw a person on the property, I get that this is a DD call, which can potentially turn violent, but really?  Cops go to all DD calls with their guns drawn??  How are they NOT shooting more innocent bystanders??

Second, the audio from his car video clearly states that he gave the home-owner conflicting instructions:  first “put your hands up” then “get your dog”.  So basically the guy has a fraction of a second to decide which order to get shot for.  Personally I’d have been already grabbing my dog regardless of the “put your hands up” order, but then, considering the size and looks of Apollo I suspect he’d have already been shot before I could react anyway.

Third, everyone defending the cop keeps saying the dog was “running towards him and thats aggressive behavior”.  Except you know what??  ITS NOT.  Any dog, friendly or otherwise, who is allowed loose run on their owners property is going to run towards the “new guy” who just set foot on their property.  There’s two reasons for this, one: the dog wants to get a better “look” at the new guy, and for dogs that means “smell” and two: pretty much every halfway friendly family dog I’ve ever met has been inadvertently trained to “run up to say hi” to the person who just entered the property.  Think I’m nuts?  Think about it, your dog comes running towards you when you get home what do you do?  You pet him, and tell him he’s a good boy and how happy you are to see him.  Bet lots of your friends and family do the same thing.  Presto, you’ve just trained your dog in “aggressive behavior” thats going to get him shot by the cop who accidentally walked on your property cause they have the wrong address.

If you are so afraid of dogs that you’re going to shoot the family pet for running towards you to say “hi” or,  if you are so unfamiliar with canine body language that you cannot distinguish between the family dog running to say “hi” and the aggressive guard dog who’s carefully approaching while trying to warn you off, then you need to give up your badge and gun and go retire somewhere that won’t allow dogs near you.

 

Categories Apollo, Artemis, Dog

Biking with the dogs, update

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Well, Apollo had a total freakout (ok, total freak out for HIM anyway), as in he planted his feet and REFUSED to move when we hooked him up to the bicycle.  Not entirely sure WHY, he’s seen the bike before, and I’ve even pushed it with him walking beside it a couple times to make sure it wasn’t totally scary.  He handled the harness ok.  But when I hooked him up to the bike and started to move, well, he didn’t.  Oh well.  I thought about trying to see if we could coax him into it and decided it wasn’t worth it for now.  Maybe later.

Arty however is still thrilled with it.  The lower attachment point makes a HUGE difference for me, and doesn’t seem to bother him at all.  So I’ll take it.

Categories Apollo, Artemis, Dog

Ok, that hurts…

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We bought an attachment for my bicycle  so we could attach one of the dogs for some extra exercise.  Which sounds like a really good idea, but thanks to the wonky weather last year its been 2 years since I was last on a bike.    Didn’t even bike a mile and the fronts of my thighs hurt.  Sigh.

On the other hand at least for Arty its working reasonably well.  He caught on REALLY quickly to the concept and seems to enjoy it, and its probly just as well I couldn’t go any further as he was definetly flagging by the end.  I will say that before I hook up Apollo to the bike I’ll have to get the alternative hookup for the bike so that it attaches to my back wheel instead of just below the seat.  Even 25lb Arty can jerk me hard enough that I have to correct, 100lb Apollo would pull me over….if it WORKS for Apollo though we’ll get a 2nd setup so that my husband can take a dog too.

Categories Apollo, Artemis, Dog

Wild life

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I’ve mentioned before that we’ve got wild turkeys out back.  We see them off and on, though I don’t believe Apollo has ever actually seen them, I know he’s smelled them though. 

This morning when I took the dogs out for their morning potty break I could hear what sounded like (at first listen) a bunch of kids laughing/yelling off the back of the property.  Which didn’t make sense since thats miles of forest….then I realized it was turkeys making all that noise.  Apollo was not amused.  He braced into a very aggressive stance and started huffing.  Arty was oblivious.  Since Arty had finished his business, and Apollo showed no sign of starting I coaxed them back to the house…only to get DRAGGED in the door by Apollo.    When I left for work Husband took the dogs out again, normal schedule, and he says that shortly after I left the turkeys started back up again.  Apollo turned and booked it for the house with all speed and determination.  Since he weighed in at 98lbs a couple weeks ago there’s not much that’ll stop him from going in the direction he wants to go……when Husband texted me to tell me I had to laugh at my goofy puppy…..

Then this afternoon on my way home a BIG dark and white bird, with a white head soared over the road….and just now when I took the dogs out an equally big bird soared overhead….I’m thinking we got Bald Eagles nearby!

Categories Apollo, Dog

Its true, you can get anything on Craigslist

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After chatting online with some other folks who feed their dogs raw I decided to go ahead and put an ad on Craigslist for “Free Unwanted Meat” specifying that freezer-burnt and pushing “use by” dates was ok, outright spoiled was not (I’ve sold stuff online quite a bit and am already familiar with basic safety).  Got two hits in 24hrs, one of which didn’t pan out, but the other netted me two whole roaster chickens, a whole turkey, a 4lb (beef) pot roast, assorted chicken parts, and some venison.  All freezer-burnt.  Totally worth the 1/2hr each way drive even with gas prices the way they are.  Took Apollo a day to finish off the roast, one of the chickens is next…

Categories Bleg, Dog

David Hunt, stationed (possibly formerly) in Fort Benning GA, we found Maggie

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Saw this on my local news last night.  Maggie is a Golden Retriever found wandering in the Oswego NY area last week.  She had no collar, but her microchip IDed her as Maggie, owned by one David Hunt, stationed in Fort Benning GA.  Attempts to contact Mr Hunt have been without any luck.  The article doesn’t give any details, but it makes me wonder if Maggie was fostered while her owner was overseas and has escaped.  I know some of you who read this are former military, and maybe have some connections to people or places who might be able to help track down Maggie’s owner.  Lets see if we can help reunite a service person with their dog, shall we?

 

 

Update:  Mr Hunt’s wife has contacted the Granby ACO, Maggie was his service dog, unfortunetly he died a couple months ago.

Categories Apollo, Dog, Rants

I called animal control on my neighbors

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These folks moved in across the street over the summer.  Nice enough family, 4 kids (2 of each), and a dog.  Then shortly after they got a puppy.  Not exactly breaking news I know, especially here, except their method of letting the dos out for potty and exercise was to open the door, let out the dogs, and close the door.  No fence, no tie out, no supervision.  Now maybe at their last place the dog really did stay in their yard.  I doubt it personally, but, benefit of the doubt and all that.  

A couple months after they moved in Apollo started having his “OMG there’s a DOG in MY yard!!!” snits later at night ( previously he’d occasionally have a fit over a dog that was walked by but that was it), normally he loves other dogs, but not if they’re uninvited in his yard.  Took me a while to actually catch a look at the dog in question, and sure enough, the older dog from across the street.  Sigh, no sign of the puppy, but when I get across the street she’s sitting on the porch.  So I ask them to please keep their dogs out of my yard cause Apollo goes ballistic.  They say they will.

Yup, no such luck.  We keep seeing both dogs in the yard.  And I’m starting to get annoyed at picking up strange dog poo, cause I don’t really know these dogs and all sorts of diseases are passed along that way, but I’m trying to be patient to give them time to retrain.  But finally, end of January, I chase the dogs back across the street and say something to them again.

This past Monday I finally got frustrated and called animal comtrol and she said she’d be out there that day.  Didn’t actually see her, but MOST times I’ve seen the dogs since out someone’s been out with them.  Not that having someone out stops them from heading across the street if said person isn’t watching……And tonight their older dog was in my yard again, much to Apollo’s frustration….never mind the rest of the issues I have with their practice (and there are lots) our street has no street lights, and no posted speed limit, which means that even at night people SPEED down past my house to stand on their brakes so they can make the 90degree turn.  Neither dog is white or even really light colored.  I’m not going to be happy when someone knocks on my door to tell me that a dog ran out of my yard into the street and they hit it….