Two Dogs and a Man Fighting Canine Cancer

http://www.2dogs2000miles.org/

Today I had the great pleasure to meet Luke Robinson and his two dogs Murphy and Hudson. They are on a walking journey from Austin to Boston to raise awareness and money for research on cancer in our canine friends. Luke became interested in this idea when he lost his best friend Malcolm to bone cancer. His dog was diagnosed in 2004 when he was only 6 and fought bravely for 2 years.

Just this past Christmas, my sister lost her 11 year old shih tzu Camille to cancer in her chest. It has been a very hard winter for our family. We miss her very much. My other sister's sweet 12 year old pit bull Jasmine is suffering from osteosarcoma.

I lost my "heartdog" Sam to cancer in 2002 when he was 11. When I adopted Sam at age 7 he had melanoma on his face. We got him radiation treatments at the University of Cincinnati by Dr. David Denman, a radiation oncologist at UC. He gave me five more years with Sam, almost. That's 35 years in dog years. But it was still too soon when he developed a brain tumor in 2002 and I had to let him rest.

If every dog owner who has been touched by this dreaded disease would go to Luke's website and donate to this cause, maybe we can save more dogs in the future.

And if they walk near your city, please take the opportunity to go meet with them and thank Luke for what he is doing for our "best friends". You can see a map of where they will be walking on their website that I have linked above. If you "twitter" you can also follow them there. I just learned to twitter myself!

Thanks Luke!

TURK has crossed the Bridge

I know I should not post while I am so sad and depressed. I got the news a few hours ago that Turk's tortured life has come to a peaceful end in the loving arms of the rescuer who drove 1000 miles to help him. Being chained outside in all weather conditions for 11 years took its toll on his body, and he suffered a seizure from which he did not recover. He passed away in the arms of the woman who saved him.

I am filled with so many emotions that I don't know what to do with them. I feel absolute RAGE at people who will take a BEAUTIFUL creature like this Dalmatian and CHAIN him out out in a yard for YEARS with no care whatsoever; with no thought at all of how he is SUFFERING from loneliness, fear, cold, heat, insects, predators, etc. WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE ????! Either you want a dog and you take CARE of it and treat it like a member of your family, or just go out to Walmart and get one of those cement dogs for your yard!

But then I also feel absolute faith in the goodness of people like Jenny Brock, Tammi Kinman, and so many others who did so much to help Turk. I cannot imagine the pain and grief that Jenny is going through this evening. They saw or heard of his suffering and they chose to act to help him. MANY, MANY people see it every day and choose to do nothing, to look the other way. Maybe after you read his story you will NEVER look at a dog chained in a yard again and DO NOTHING to help. It is absolutely inhumane to do that to a dog - no excuses.

Work for laws to be changed to ensure that people who do this to animals are treated like the criminals they are. California has a law against it, also Connecticut. We are trying to get a state law passed in Ohio this year. Even in Kentucky, where Turk suffered for years, is starting to get laws passed - Louisville has one.

YOU can do something to make Turk's painful life MEAN something. Go to dogsdeservebetter.org and get started now. They are sending Valentines this month to chained dogs. They spent THOUSANDS of dollars just for postage because they want to END this barbaric treatment of "man's best friend". Friends don't chain friends, as they say.


http://www.dogsdeservebetter.org/home.html


Do it for Turk.....God rest his soul.

Nice Review for my book!

I really would like to thank Amanda L. Snow for the wonderful review she gave my book "Every Rescued Dog Has a Tale" on her website "A Patchwork of Books".

http://apatchworkofbooks.blogspot.com/

I appreciate the time she took to read and review it. She is also a big fan of the pit bull and she singled out the story of Oreo as one of her favorites. This weekend I have a chance to drive another pit bull from a shelter in New Jersey to a rescue near Cincinnati. If we have the car in working order, we will be signing up.

And last week our community newspaper printed an interview I did with Forrest Sellers about dog transporting and my book.

http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/C2/20090127/VAV02/901270313/

So lately I have been very busy trying to get the word out about how easy it is to help save homeless dogs by just driving a little bit. It is so rewarding, and one of the best parts is meeting so many new friends who share your love of animals.

Also this week I learned to TWITTER!!! It is fun. I do think some people update just a little too often. I don't really need to know if you have just left for work, then ARRIVED at work, now taking your coffee break, etc. Just an update here and there is just fine...leave some mystery.

Now I am off to walk (stumble through the snow) with my dogs for their afternoon sniff and smell. The wiener dog's belly is getting really cold with the snow piling up. She HATES the red sweater but she is just going to HAVE to wear it.

It really IS too big for her - it belonged to my old English setter who passed away. But her belly is SO big that I have to put a large one on her just to cover it.

Don't make fun of her. She is sensitive.