EDITION OF TUESDAY, JULY 30, 2015 (PetPowellPress) -- Got an email titled “Is your workout working?” Didn’t even bother to open it. If you think the Texas Rangers had an iffy June, look at my diet/exercise plan. Lost the same 5 pounds about four times. Now, let’s move into the world of animals and maybe some other things.
But first, do you see that dog? She’s Shelby (#27986954), listed on the City of Irving’s Adoptable Dogs site HERE Monday evening.
Why post this 3-year, 28-days old (how’d they figure that?) dog? She’s been at the shelter since June 30 -- a Staffordshire Terrier mix or, in the eyes of most people, a “Pit-type.” She’s made it 30 days in the Irving shelter. Thirty days in a city shelter! Astounding. The shelter is at 4140 Valley View Lane. The rescue hotline is 972-721-3597. The business number is 721-2256.
What is this dog’s link to a little town named Salinas, Kansas? Philosophy. Salinas has banned Pit-types.
Oh, and “dangerous dogs” came up at last week’s Dallas Animal Shelter Commission meeting. Dallas doesn’t ban by breed, but gives individual dogs accused of dangerous behavior a hearing -- not in a real court, but before a three-person panel. Dallas has a revamped system for dangerous dog hearings -- previously the owners’ lawyers were not allowed to speak. But, now, things have changed (thanks to efforts by local animal attorneys) and the city tries to give animals a break not just the automatic needle. The hearing is also designed to make sure the humans follow rules that keep the animals safe and confined and don't stir up neighborhood conflicts. Now, the Salinas stories:
TWO TALES IN SALINA, KANS.
Arin Greenwood, the Huffington Post’s animal welfare editor (and a lawyer), outlined the story of truck driver Nathan Stewart whose dog Sophie was confiscated in Salina, Kan., a town of less than 50,000 about 450 miles north of Dallas right up the I-35/135 route.
Sophie, somehow, got out of a friend’s house, wandered through the neighborhood and was put back into the home, but someone told animal control and Sophie has been in custody for months. The case is winding its way through the legal system as Stewart tries to save Sophie. Read Editor Greenwood’s HuffPost story HERE then come right back to read about the latest Salina story.
The thing that started our Salina examination was an email asking for signatures on a petition site -- the petition wants Salina to return Stormy the Pit to Josh Hill, a guy who moved to Salina from El Dorado, Texas, then discovered that his new town didn’t allow Pit types. And, before you know it, Stormy was in custody. The guy is trying to save his dog. Read about it HERE. El Dorado is about 290 miles southwest of Dallas and about 50 south of San Angelo.
[LARRY ASIDE: Salina's ban is more than a decade old. Dallas doesn’t have a Pit Bull ban -- breed specific legislation is not allowed in Texas (right now), though a couple of city council members sounded off about it a couple of months ago. They were District 5 Councilman Rickey Callahan-- still serving -- and District 4 Councilman Dwaine Caraway, term-limited off the council and now running for a Dallas County Commissioner Court seat currently held by the indicted John Wiley Price. Mr. Caraway is the council member who famously gave a Key to the City of Dallas to the bare-handed dog-killing NFL felonious quarterback Michael Vick. Readlarrypowell.com lives in District 4 and is familiar with District 5 -- sometimes via animal cruelty cases -- and, in those districts it's more likely that someone would kill a Pit Bull than a Pit would kill someone.]
LAST DAY OF FELINE FRENZY
June is National Adopt a Cat Month and the DAS has been running a Feline Frenzy special -- $5, just five lousy bucks, for any cat or kitten in the city’s care. DAS’s Facebook page featured these four on Monday. The note read, “Each a masterpiece of grace and beauty, they are (clockwise from top) Bonnie, Aiden, Bruce and Tally.”
These four are at the DAS Shelter and Adoption Center at I-30 and Westmoreland in West Dallas. Stop by and meet dogs and cats. Go to dallasanimalservices.org to see how to adopt. (Or just show up with $5 and get a cat to call your own.) [LARRY ASIDE: Readlarrypowell.com endorses the companionship of cats. We’ve lived in our Dallas neighborhood for more than a quarter-century and have never had to pay to adopt a cat. Our entire population is of the wander-up variety, except for Annabelle Bob who was picked up by my quick-footedspouse Martha when she saw the kitten eating dumped fast food in the middle of Kiest Boulevard and chased her into some nearby shrubbery in a yard. Lifelong buddies now.]
A REMINDER ABOUT CUDDLES
Debra Deese, the former newspaper journalist at both big Dallas papers, is still looking for specific help for Cuddles the Cat. We featured the story over the weekend, but we want to give Cuddles a better than average chance to get a great home.
She was rescued by Debra who found her after she and two other cats had been abandoned at rental property in Gainesville. Two of the cats were friendly and quickly found homes. But Cuddles had been beaten and left for dead -- Debra nursed her back to health and, in spite of miserable allergic reactions to the cat, has been working to find a home for Cuddles. Debra, a long-time Pug rescuer, is moving and Cuddles needs a home that is ultra-cat friendly and ultra-cat-understanding.
The cat, in three years, has gone from “terrified” to “Cuddles.” To offer to help Cuddles, call or text Debra at 214-863-8555.
CONTEMPLATIONS: “Dual action gel.” What kind of advertising mind dreams up that slogan and applies it to a mattress. Serta ad on TV. I guess it replaces the Uni-Action Gel. ... Know how you can tell online news is beating print news? Local papers don’t have an animal welfare editor and Huffpost does. ... Good grief, this is the last day of June. Half the year is gone. While I am astonished that we are halfway through the year, I am even more astonished that the year is 2015 and not still 1965. Can a half-century move this quickly? Only if each year since ’65 features eight days a week. Click HERE.
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