Dog's Worst Friend

As I mentioned yesterday, decisions, decisions.  There are so many to make.  Do I work on my next book, that probably no one will be interested in, or do I type out another one of these?  This one I feel is somewhat important, which is why I'm currently ignoring the book.  Writing, for me, is a way to reinforce a thought.  I've got a thought, or something to do, that I want to remember.  Just writing it down is a way to help remember it, even if I don't read it again.  I want to remind myself of something in particular. 
The title here is, of course, a flip on "man's best friend," which is what dogs are, and that's correct.  I love dogs.  They are fantastic.  I believe I mentioned that dogs are allowed to be in the store where I work, and that is, by far, the best thing about my job.  It is my goal to pet a dog every workday.  I recently petted 5 dogs in 1 day.  I think that was a personal record. 
I attached Michael Vick's photo to this, because he is infamous for being involved with dog fighting, which is an obvious example of dog cruelty.  By the way, he's an example of how "important" pro football is.  His crimes didn't stop him from playing again.  What other crimes haven't prevented players from playing pro football?  Assault (against men and women) and rape.  All animal cruelty is heinous and wrong, but when it is directed at pet animals, there is an additional problem.  Pet animals (dogs, cats, etc.) have learned to trust humans.  I've seen medieval paintings that depicted humans with dogs.  So these animals have had a relationship with people for hundreds, or even thousands, of years.  That's quite a long time to establish trust.  So the dog or cat trusts people, lets his or her defenses down with someone, and the person abuses that trust by maliciously harming the animal: horribly heinous.   
Humans are cruel to dogs in all sorts of ways.  They starve them.  They chain them to a small spot that they never get to leave.  They leave them outside in the cold.  They breed dogs.  No one should be bringing dogs, or cats, into the world.  There are tons of unwanted dogs and cats languishing in shelters.  Breeders betray these animals by bringing more dogs and cats into a world where they are not wanted.  The breeders ensure that shelter animals will have a harder time finding homes.  Puppies are cute, but I usually feel a tinge of sadness when I see one, because someone brought that puppy into a world that is already populated with many unwanted dogs.  Some people are only interested in puppies and not non-puppies.  These people are like biological parents: cruel and selfish. 
Unfortunately, I have witnessed dog cruelty in the store where I work.  Some people control the dogs that are with them extremely closely.  They are constantly watching, criticizing, and scolding them.  This is a form of cruelty.  I think it's possible these people have a fetish that has them needing to control living beings.  Perhaps they'd rather closely control people like that, but they can't find someone who'd submit to their control.  I've also seen people choking their dogs.  I saw a man walking a dog at my workplace, and he choke, choke, choked the dog repeatedly while walking him or her.  That's why I feel it's important for me to write this.  I wanted to say something to him, but I didn't.  I didn't want to get into trouble at work.  I let that dog down.  I'm hereby challenging myself to say something if I see something like that in the future.  I have confronted strangers while not at work, to protect animals, at least a few times.  I've told myself that I'm willing to get into fistfights over animal cruelty.  If that is what is required to protect an animal, then it is the right thing to do.  Fuck the law.  Laws were established to protect people: not animals.  There are a few laws that exist to protect pets, but not nearly enough.  "Food" animals, like pigs, cows, and chickens, have extremely little protection from laws, because many people have decided that their lives don't matter to them.  My life, certainly my job, is nothing compared to the massive issue of animal cruelty.  Animals can't call the police if they are the victims of cruelty.  They need people to help them. 
I hate animal abusers.  I only saw him do this one particular day, but I'll probably never forget it.  He was at the store where I work with a woman and a puppy.  The puppy was in a shopping cart.  He pulled the leash, which was attached to a collar around the puppy's neck, repeatedly.  Perhaps he enjoyed choking the puppy.  He has since returned to the store a number of times, but that's the only time I saw him bring the puppy.  The last time I saw him, he had a few kids with him: not surprising.  Animal cruelty, which includes purchasing meat, goes with biological parenthood (It's cruel to bring people into a fucked-up world.) like peanut butter and jelly.           

A Letter from a Dog to Humans

Please be nice to me and don't hurt me.

Please be nice to us.  Please don't ever hurt us.  Sometimes my dad comes home from wherever he goes, and he's very mean to me: even if I did nothing wrong that day.  He yells at me; sometimes he hits or kicks me, and I don't know why.  It seems like he's mad about what happened while he was "out there."  I love him so much, and I still do, no matter what he does to me.  But I love him unconditionally, no matter what, and I wish he'd love me that way too.  I never get mad at him: not even when he gives me a bath or takes me to the vet.
We trust you completely; it's been that way for hundreds of years now.  We put our lives in your hands.  We give you all we have to give: our entire bodies.  We can't give anymore.  Don't you see how wrong it is to betray our trust?  But people have made us fight each other.  People have hurt, tortured, and killed us in lab experiments.
If you're a breeder, please stop bringing more dogs into the world and spend your time doing something better.  So many of us are living in cages in shelters.  When you bring a dog into the world, and someone buys him or her, then there is a dog living in a cage in a shelter that could have been adopted if you hadn't sold that dog.  So many dogs need good homes; please don't make matters worse.
Please don't give up on your dog.  My friend, the bald vegan, was living with his ex-girlfriend years ago.  His ex-girlfriend wanted to get a dog.  The bald vegan asked her to not get a dog, becasue he was too lazy to walk a dog every day at the time, and he didn't yet know how great dogs are.  His ex-girlfriend got a dog anyway.  Just as he suspected, he was expected to walk him every day.  But the bald vegan has strong feelings about animals.  Even though he had not agreed to get a dog, he never once suggested that she get rid of him.  He believes that when you make a commitment to a pet, it should be for life: either the life of the pet or the person.  Even though the little guy bit him several times, he fell completely in love with him, and would not have wanted him to leave his home at all.  Getting a dog, then having a baby, then getting rid of your dog cause you're worried about the baby is a crappy thing to do.          

Poor Cat

It's a cold world for stray cats

She's homeless.  She seems to not trust people; maybe she's been abused.  She's a stray cat who lives around here.  Last night, the temperature here hit a record low of 6 degrees below zero.   I've seen her trotting around in the snow.  I've seen her tracks, and I know she's been around.  It breaks my heart to think of all the stray cats out there.  They have to deal with horrible, sometimes deadly, weather.  There are people out there who would torture and kill them.  Please spay and neuter your pets.  There are so many unwanted dogs and cats.  They're either homeless, or they're languishing in cages at shelters.  If you want to make a commitment to a dog or cat for the rest of your (or their) life, and you're committed to treating the pet well, then please adopt.  Breeders piss me off because they play God and bring dogs into a world in which there are already more than people want.  
My diet is going well.  I've recently gotten into soups big time.  For a while, I considered myself to be the sort of person that doesn't like soup.  Now that I'm trying to not eat any processed foods, I've rethought that position.  I've been eating split pea and lentil soups.  A one-pound bag of them costs a little over a dollar.  I cook it with carrots and celery.  I've really been enjoying it: especially since it's been so cold.  I think of veggie soup as a hot winter salad.  Instead of eating a bunch of cold vegetables, it makes sense to throw them into a soup and heat them up.  I'm not much of a cook, but it's very easy to make, doesn't require much effort at all, and it's done pretty quickly.  It's very filling too.    

Peace is the Way

Lovable furball.

Wouldn't you rather be like Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr, than Hitler or Stalin?  War makes me ashamed to be human.  Animals only kill when they feel they need to; when survival is at stake.  Humans are hypocritical enough to say that murder is a sin and a gravely serious crime, yet do it in a war and you're a hero.  Smoke some towel heads and we'll give you a medal.  What hypocrisy!  I said that to someone and he got pissed off because he had served in the armed forces.  That's a great side to take: pro war, pro destruction, and pro killing. 
People love to mention Hitler when it comes to explaining why war is sometimes necessary.  Hitler would not have been able to do as much damage as he did if he did not have access to the tools of war: tanks, guns, battleships, warplanes, and so on.   
We are a bad-tempered breed.  I always suspected that some of the people who join the military do so because they want to kill people.  Last year, I watched a documentary about an American soldier that fought in Afghanistan.  There was a scene where he interviewed to become a marine.  He was asked why he wanted to be a marine.  He said he wanted to be a marine so he could kill people.  One of the soldiers interviewing him said something like, "Well, that's the best answer I ever heard."  How psychotic.  I wonder how well I'd do trying to impress potential employers by letting them know that I'd like to kill people.  How freaking savage.   
War is stupid and people are stupid.  It's time to get rid of it.  We cannot consider ourselves to be civilized as long as war is being waged.
I can't help thinking about the animals that are killed in wars.  I hate when the police and military train dogs to do their dirty work.  How dare they.  The dogs don't understand the risk: the danger.  It's so wrong to exploit them like that.  Dogs trust us instinctually.  Their trust shouldn't be exploited.  Leave dogs out of wars.  Just feed them, give them water and any needed medical care, pet them, hug them, and love them, because that's what they deserve.