Say No to Debarking!

Buddy::: well, this week has been the week from you know where for jan. we touched on a couple of things in other posts -- such as Merci being frightened by the vet and trying to bite him.

Merci::: if a giant suddenly showed up waving a big needle and then had jan restrain your head while he grabbed you by the tail and yanked and jabbed, it would scare the pee and crap out of you too. at least jan said she is going to change vets so i won't have to go back to him again. he got angry and jan thought it was all her fault, but as someone pointed out, he should have acted like a professional. it's the second time jan has seen him lose his cool with one of us. he scared buddy once too.

Cyndi::: and so many other things have gone wrong this week. but this morning has been the pits.

Cameron::: yeah, she was talking to her friend in Arizona early this morning, when she leaned down to pick up some maps she dropped and got a splinter(s) under her fingernail. Either she broke it off below the nail line or she pulled out one and a second broke off. but it's a long one and very painful. We can see it right through her nail. She's having a problem typing with 9 fingers, so we get the computer today.

Cotton, nose to monitor::: why are you typing in small letters, Cameron? Jan's the one with the injured finger.

Percy::: sympathy pain, Cotton. we've lived with jan so long, we've acquired her bad memory and now i've got a phantom paw injury and can barely type. Talk slow so I can keep up.

Crystal::: she saw Buddy scratching last night and found his allergy/skin problem is back with a vengeance, but no fleas this time. good thing she just ordered something for him, but she had to give him a medicated bath this morning. Too bad it didn't draw out her splinter.

Sam::: Then she turned on the computer to read email and had the strangest message saying the video was eye opening and the sender didn't know what the subject line had to do with the video. Well, jan had forwarded a fun video on to a few friends yesterday, noticed the attachment didn't go with it, found she has thrown the video in the trash, retrieved it and sent it on.

Rusty::: The next message she read was a friend berating her that it was NOT the intended video. She had copied a link to a YouTube video on the dangers of devocalizing dogs with the intention of posting it as cruelty and inadvertently pasted the link into the email she intended to attach the fun video to. Unfortunately, right above the link, she had written, "This is really neat. I would never have thought of such a thing."

Crystal::: Jan was appalled! She hopes those who received that message know she would never call any type of animal cruelty "neat."

Buddy::: We still want to post the video, but we want to make absolutely sure you all understand we do NOT condone this. We knew some research labs use this disgusting surgery, but why would any breeder or owner ever even consider it for their dogs?

Merci::: We found a link to the video posted on Funny End of the Tail blog yesterday, and since blogs don't have all the same readership, we wanted to post it too. It is educational and if you run into anyone considering this type of surgery for a dog, you will be aware of why it should NOT be done.

Sam: It's called "The Unknindest Cut" and if the video doesn't play for you, you can click on the title to watch it on YouTube. And for those of you in MA, please tell your state representative and senator to pass An Act Prohibiting Devocalization, H.344. If you don't know your legislators, call 800-462-8683.



Buddy::: I see you're starting to get the hang of typing with a phantom paw injury, Percy, but you sure are slow and have to make a lot of corrections. Maybe you should take a break and soak your paw in a pan of cold water. It helped Jan for a bit.

Percy::: Good idea, Buddy. I just hope that drawing salve works on Jan's splinter so I can get back to typing as usual. This is too much like WORK!

jff- crystal, cotton, merci, cyndi, percy, cameron, buddy, rusty & Sam