Sam on Keys and Stealing

Hey, this is Sam. Do you see the smile on my face? It isn't there just for the treats you see beside me. I'm smiling at the news we read this morning.

Remember yesterday we posted on how tired we are of the Michael Vick hero worhipping hype? If you missed it, you can read it here. Go ahead. We'll wait. We want you to see the video of the Mayor of Dallas, Texas giving Vick a key to the city and then Vick and his entourage saying they don't care about the dogs when one of the media says he has one of Vick's dogs - one of the dogs that survived being fought and was eventually adopted into a real home.

Well, today we learned the Mayor of Dallas did not give Vick a key to the city. The Mayor didn't give him anything. It was the Mayor Pro Tem and he did not have the authority to give a sports idol or anyone else a key. You can read that short story here.

And we would be quite happy if that is the last Vick story we ever read.

On to a happier, more informative subject. There is a terrific post over at BlogPaws on not helping oneself to photos and stories online. Now, we're not posting this here for our blogging friends because we already know appropriating material is wrong and most if not all of us have had that happen to us at least once.

A good example is that pet blog photos can appear on one of the LOL sites with someone else's name on them and occasionally we recognize a photo. Recently, we saw this happen and when we checked out the one who posted it, we found she'd appropriated a photo of a very popular and easily recognizable blogging kitty, whom we informed, for her own ID photo. The next morning the ID photo was gone. But ... it was replaced by another stolen photo of the same blogging kitty. This time we left a message for I Can Has Cheezburger and a couple of days later that photo was gone. However ... it was now replaced by another kitty's photo that looked very familiar but we couldn't place it.

Now that is definitely a repeat offender who just doesn't get it. She might not steal from the collection plate on Sunday but she does steal, nevertheless.

The problem we bloggers have is explaining it to others, those who grab photos and posts and either repost them - with or without the owner's name, but definitely without your permission - or email them to everyone they know so they circulate around the globe "forever."

Jan is a bit fanatical on this subject because she once discovered someone was stealing every one of her posts from another blog she used to write and putting them on a forum. Not only that, but she found a number of other bloggers whose posts she recognized there too. She tried explaining that posting them there is stealing and if he wanted to share the stories, he needed to share a link instead. Then one night she finished/posted a story at 2 am. First thing the next morning, she checked the forum and her story had been copied and pasted - stolen! - before 5 am. Jan spent hours going page by page to ID every story of hers and those she recognized as stolen and reported it. A forum administrator ended up deleting all the stories, one by one.

You own the stories you write and you have the right to request they be removed if someone else uses them without your permission. If the blog or website owner refuses or ignores you, go over his head!

The BlogPaws post is Not Your Blog Post! Give it Back! We're going to bookmark it for future need. We hope you'll do the same because we'll likely forget where we bookmarked it and have to ask you for the link.

Well, Jan is impatient to get to a project so we have to sign off for the day.

Killer of Bear Bear Guilty

Federal officer Keith Shepherd has been found guilty of misdemeanor animal cruelty and misdemeanor discharging a fire arm in the shooting death of Bear Bear at a dog park in August. This shooting sparked the wrath of animal lovers all over the world. It appears, though, that he received probation instead of jail time. You can read the story here.

Interspecies Friends

Rusty:

Jan, this is awkward! Stop taking my picture while I'm preparing to introduce a post. Wait till I finish my bath!

I'm sorry. Please give me a moment to regain my composure.  One day I'm going to get even with her for embarrassing me again.  Hmmmm, maybe she's taking it out on me because we posted the photo of her without a head last week?  We gave her back her head yesterday.  Okay, I'm composed and ready to start our post.  But I'm still going to get even!

UPDATE: This just posted but we want to add one important items.  Remember Dan Palmer, the man beaten to death for intervening in abuse against 3 dogs?  The charges against the first man were upgraded to second-degree murder in late October.  The second man has now been charged with second - degree murder too. 

Recently we watched a neat interspecies video and we'd like to share it with you. Imagine if you can these friends - a pit bull named Sharky, a cat, a rabbit and a guinea pit. But wait! You don't need to imagine. You can view the video.



If the video doesn't play, click here.

Cotton Is 10

Our Cotton is turning 10. She doesn't look a day over ... Oh, we're not supposed to discuss a lady's age, are we! Let's just say, she is as beautiful as ever.

This is our pretty girl, napping in one of the beds Jan makes up for us every winter. She and Rusty always seem to have their eyes closed when it's photo time.




Happy 10th Birthday, to our sweet tortie Cotton!!


Note: Thursday is Sassy's doth's birthday. (That's dad of the house, in case you wonder.) You know Sassy, the head of CCSI. You can surprise her doth (big time!) by leaving a message for him on Sassy's blog .


And Friday is Jan's. She's going to be --

Percy: OUCH!!!!!! You stepped on my paw. And I was sitting on the typing chair. Why did you do that?

Jan: Sorry, Percy. I just wanted to see what you were typing. You were about to give out my age. I hope you aren't expecting anything for your birthday next month?

Percy: Mumble, mumble, mumble.

Jan: What, Percy?

Buddy: I think he's trying to say his paw hurts. And he's sorry you stepped on it. And since he can't type with a sore paw, we're just going to have to skip your birthday this year, Jan.

But today is Cotton's day and we're all going to celebrate her favorite way. We're going to nap.

(s) JFF-- Crystal, Cotton, Merci, Cyndi, Percy, Cameron, Buddy, Rusty & Sam

Benefit Car Show and Updates

Remember the dog shot in the shoulder with an arrow? (If you don't remember him, you can click on the label "dog with arrow" below this post.) He had his surgery and is now named Bo and he is "the shelter dog." We feel sorry for the poor guy. That shelter is no place for any animal to have to live. We think he should have gone to a loving home where he would be loved and walked and ..... Anyway, he was at the car show to benefit the local Humane Society Saturday. His shoulder is still draining and he limps on that leg but he is still a sweet, handsome dog!

It looks like we need to emphasize the fact that Bo is not up for adoption and won't be! He is officially the shelter dog and will live there. We are against this. No animal should have to live in a "house" of death, which is what the shelter basically is, since most of the animals that go in do not come out alive. But he is not there temporarily, or until his wound heals, or until someone opts to adopt him. There were a lot who offered but the shelter wanted him to live at the shelter and we can't do anything about it.


If you want to read about it, there is a link in that post to the Humane Society's Paws column about it. Jan says it was a terrific day, except for the standing on her feet part, since she was/is still trying to recuperate from mowing the lawn.

And as an update on the shelter and Our Friend, Our Friend and the group decided it was time to stop taking the photos at the shelter. She's kind of sad about it but believes it to be the right decision. She hopes she will be able to help animals in some other way, somewhere her help will be wanted and she will be respected.

Update Dog with Arrow

Jan took some new photos yesterday of the emaciated Lab mix that was found shot with the arrow February 25th. He had a second wound in a rear leg. Both were at least a week old at that time.


Gangrene had already set in, and he might need another operation, but the dog is expected to make a good recovery. Right now his shoulder is draining and he is on antibiotics.

Jan is with the Upson Humane Society (NOT the shelter), which took responsibility for all of the dog's medical expenses. Surgery and extended medical care are not cheap! So the Humane Society was going to have to do some fundraising. But Tuesday, the vet let them know he is donating the dog's medical. What a wonderfully generous thing for him to do.


He's not particularly fond of the camera, but Jan says he is a very sweet-natured dog.

Update Dog with Arrow

The dog with the arrow in his shoulder was operated on this morning. He also has an injury to a back leg. Since he was shot twice, we assume someone really meant to kill him. The wounds are about a week old.

We finally posted this story on UpsonPets.com and we're glad we waited. We only learned the following a couple of hours ago.

ACO/shelter manager Web is offering a $500 reward out of his own pocket for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for this dog's injuries.



And we hope the perpetrator is caught and convicted!


We received a Star on the Hollywood Catwalk of Fame this morning -- from Anonymous. "Each of you is receiving an award. Because we thoroughly enjoy your blog... we enjoy you, your stories, your pictures." What a wonderful surprise. And we do mean surprise. We do post some grim stories and/or photos on occasion. (As the above dog with the arrow in his shoulder.)



We've been thinking and pondering and .... well, arguing .... over where we should send it. We finally agreed to pick just one one cat and one dog blog.

We would like to give this to JB's Small World. We always enjoy reading their posts. Sadly, they recently lost both PooPoo and Misty. Today they feature Bear and Dumplin' playing on (in?) the scratching post, but this will be our cat blog. Besides, Bear thinks he's a cat anyway.

With her khwick wit and khrazy spelling, Khyra's Korner always makes us laugh, so we're going to give this to Khyra as our dog choice.

Dog with Arrow

We have an update on the dog mentioned in today's earlier post. We are all relieved to learn that in the confusion of the moment Jan misunderstood. All day we have had horrible visions of an arrow sticking out of this poor dog's eye. How she got eye out of shoulder is beyond us -- and her.

After several hours and a number of phone calls, Jan went to the vet's office to take photographs of the dog for UpsonPets.com -- and hopefully for the local newspapers. What she found is a sweet, scared, bony, Yellow Labrador Retriever mix with ice blue eyes.

To save time on updating you, this is what she'll post on UpsonPets:

The Upson Humane Society received a call from Animal Control Officer Smart Web Wednesday morning regarding a yellow Labrador Retriever mix with an arrow in its shoulder. "Despite the arrow sticking out, the dog is friendly, " Web stated. Then he asked if the Humane Society would be willing to help. The dog was taken to the Thomaston Animal Hospital for evaluation and will undergo surgery Thursday morning to remove the arrow. Anyone who recognizes this dog or knows who shot it, please contact the animal shelter at 706-647-5586. He will be available for adoption at the shelter after he recovers from surgery. Any donations toward veterinary expenses should be sent to .........

You can click on the photos to enlarge a little, but not much. Jan says we have to be tactful.




We don't have any other details at the moment. As AC said, it could be someone decided to use the dog for target practice or someone took the dog out there to kill it or ..... We hope someone saw something and reports it.

We received the Proximidade award again, this time from Sunny's Mommy. Thank you so much!



To lighten the moment, a friend sent this---

If you're like us, you're wondering what planet the writer is from.


Scroll down for the earlier post and the bird dancing video.
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Feather Dancing

Jan had a disturbing call this morning. County Animal Control picked up a dog. Nothing unusual in that. But someone has shot an arrow into this dog's eye and despite the arrow sticking out, the dog was friendly and happy. ACO wanted to know if the local Humane Society wanted to help this dog. Fortunately, the HS agreed and the dog was to be transported to a local vet for evaluation. She's anxious to hear how he makes out.

We ran across this cute video. Another dancing bird. We're exhausted just from watching it. So, while you watch, we're going to go nap. Excuse us.

Zzzzzzzzzzz. Snort, snuff. Zzzzzzzzzz.