President of McKinney TX SPCA Starved Pet Dog to Death!

A woman who was the PRESIDENT of SPCA in McKinney, TX (next to us) was just convicted of STARVING HER GERMAN SHEPHERD PUPPY to death!!! And what did she get? 3 days in jail, $500.00 fine and 3 years probation!!!! Can you believe it?

Young joins the Phelp's family

So Kitter and Sollie will have a new brother! Here is the note that Jan wrote about him.
Just wanted to let everyone know we are going to raise another CCI puppy. His name is Young and he is 3/4 lab, 1/4 golden retriever. He is scheduled to arrive this coming Wednesday, October 1. He will be flying in from San Francisco on Continental Air Cargo. I'm sure when he gets here Kitter and Sollie will say to him, "OK kid, here's the rules."



I have started a blog with a couple of pictures and what we know so far, and I'll update it after he gets here and as we go through the "raising up" stage. Here is the link: http://raisingyoung.blogspot.com/
Feel free to visit it to get a preview of our new little fella. As soon as he is "trustable" from a house-training standpoint we'll bring all the boys to visit at the Center.I'm saving their blog as one of my favorites so I can keep up with his training.


The CCI is NOT a puppy mill, by the way. This is a great organization.

Judge Judy and a Puppy Mill

We watch Judge Judy in the afternoons. She gets to the point, doesn't like interuptions and is quite entertaining. Today she had a good show. A couple was being sued for money paid to them for a cute little dog that wouldn't do anything but lay down and was puppy pad trained. Judy talked about puppy mills. She said that this particular dog was from a puppy mill. Because she was in a cage for the 18 months of her life, she didn't have human response, didn't know how to play and was not properly trained. To top it off, the dog never had shots and had never been to a vet. The lady who bought the dog took the dog to a vet. The vet said that the poor little thing was unresponsive and didn't know how to act like a dog should act. When I go to the flea market in McKinney, there are cages and cages of puppies. Some cages hold more than 3 or 4 puppies. You don't see dogs, only puppies. I asked a seller one time why there weren't dogs but only puppies there. She said that she only sells puppies. I told her that she couldn't possibly sell all of the puppies she had with her and what happens to these puppies when they are no longer 'cute' and little but are grown dogs. I asked her if she had them put down. She was not happy with me. She said that she turns them loose on her land to run. Come on! How many dogs would she have running around her land while she continues to breed puppies.
People need to be aware of what a puppy mill is. Here is a description according to HSUS. I condensed what they wrote. You can read the full story at: http://stoppuppymills.org/inside_a_puppy_mill.html

Life is particularly bad for "breeding stock," dogs who live their entire lives in cages and are continually bred for years, without human companionship and with little hope of ever becoming part of a family. These dogs receive little or no veterinary care and never see a bed, a treat or a toy. After their fertility wanes, breeding animals are commonly killed, abandoned or sold to another mill. The annual result of all this breeding is hundreds of thousands of puppies, many with behavior and/or health problems.

There are many websites that you can read about the horrors of puppy mills. Type in Puppy Mills in the Search and you can take your pick on which article to read.

LB's new cat named Alice

Laurie has a new member of her family today. She was hanging around a friend's neighborhood and had kittens. They caught the momcat and had her spayed. But they needed a home for her. Since LB recently lost one of her cats, she has room for her. Her name is Alice. So LB and Steve have three cats again...Norton, Trixie and Alice. Sound familiar? I think she needs to get one more named Ralph to complete the circle.

Wild Life Blog

If you love animals, especially wildlife, check out this blog. The pictures are awesome. http://cwildlife.blogspot.com/

New Yard Critter

Yesterday I was looking over my plants and thought that a leaf from my honeysuckle vine was stuck to the fence post. It's a cute little tree frog. He looked so cute that I wanted to pick him up. I didn't. I let him be after I used him to take pictures, that is. I've never seen a green one like this.

Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch

Denny doesn't have to umpire Saturday so we're going to go to the Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch. We've never been there and it looks like a fun trip. Dallas saw the pictures of the animals and got excited. I think she's going to have a ball!
I'll take plenty of pictures.

Kidder and Sollie

Kidder and Sollie visited the center today. Jan Phelps is the 'mom' of these two beautiful dogs. She and her husband trained them for helpers for handicapped people but they didn't pass the test so she got to keep them. She now takes them around to nursing homes and she brings them to the senior center. They are wonderful dogs and they obey her any time she tells them to do something. In the picture besides me are Joyce, Lena, and Nancy Pacheco who was at the center to interview us for her three newspapers that she owns. Her husband, Mark, is running for mayor of Allen. He is a wonderful person and we're going to support him in his campaign. Our present mayor has been in office for 11 years and it's time for a change.

Bobcats

The other day while we were sitting, knitting, drinking coffee/tea/sodas one of the men came up to me and said "Hurry, Jan, get your camera. There is a Bobcat outside but Coach is out there trying to chase them away!". I ran to the door and hollered to Coach to get in the center and quit chasing him away! He did come in. We had to go to another room to see the cat before he went into the woods and I didn't have time to grab my camera. There wasn't one but two Bobcats! They walked to the corner of the woods, turned around and went into the woods. I'm going to have to have my camera ready every day from now on. We had a coyote in the back of the center one day too. I don't know why Coach had to chase them away. He'd probably be the kind that would shoot at them if he had a gun! It's bad enough that we're taking all of the wild animal's homes away. Let's leave the animals alone to live in the little wooded areas that they were left with. They're on this earth for a purpose. They're so beautiful to watch. I'd say keep them out of the zoos too. They need room to move and be free, not be put in cages for inhumans to stare at.