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PETA’s Palin Craziness

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By Marion Algier – Excerpted from Our Weasel Of The Week Nominees 01-06-15 !! at Ask Marion 

My Weasel of the Week nominee is PETA!! .

Sarah Palin posted a photo of her 6-year-old special needs son, Trig, trying to help with the dishes. Nobody immediately reacted when he said he needed help to reach the sink, so Trig took it upon himself to solve the problem. He stood on the family dog, Jill, a black lab especially trained to be a companion for kids like Trig who suffers from down syndrome.

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When Palin posted the photo, PETA went nuts. Now I’m a dog, an animal lover, but really???

Hmmm… funny thing?!? When Ellen DeGeneres, who doesn’t suffer from Downs or the like, posted virtually the same photo of herself standing on the family dog as a child, there were crickets from PETA and then they nominated her women of the year.

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And when President Obama admitted that he ate dog meat as a child in Indonesia there wasn’t a peep either from PETA.

Or how about when New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio dropped the groundhog, who eventually died, at the yearly celebration? I don’t remember a peep from PETA then either.

But like with anything else in today’s climate, if you are a Democrat or a Progressive from either party, you are untouchable and always excused, but if you are a Republican or worse yet, a tea party Republican, you are fair game with a target on your back for anyone or any group to inflict their fake outrage. Just ask former Governor and GOP Presidential Candidate Romney .

But Sarah Palin responded to PETA like only Sarah can!

January 7, 2015 Posted by | Animal and Pet Photos, Animal or Pet Related Stories, Dogs, Dogs, Just One More Pet, Pets, Service and Military Animals, Unusual Stories | , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Photos From the Frontlines–The Dogs of War

Emerald Warrior 2011

Thursday’s Awesome Photos From The Frontlines: The Dogs Of War – Pat Dollard

Mar 21, 2013 – Jake Hammer

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Protective "doggles"

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Operation Iraqi Freedom

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March 22, 2013 Posted by | Animal or Pet Related Stories, Animals Adopting Animals, Dogs, Dogs, If Animlas Could Talk..., Just One More Pet, Man's Best Friend, NO KILL NATION, Working and Military Dogs and Related | , , , , , | 7 Comments

Sergeant Stubby

In honor of all our Veterans I thought this little bit of history was interesting to share..

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SGT. STUBBY WAR DOG HERO!

Meet America’s first war dog, a stray Pit Bull/Terrier mix, named Stubby. He became Sgt. Stubby, was the most decorated war dog of World War I and the only dog to be promoted to sergeant through combat.

One day he appeared at Yale Field in New Haven, Connecticut; while a group of soldiers were training, stopping to make friends with soldiers as they drilled. One soldier, Corporal Robert Conroy, developed a fondness for the dog. He named him Stubby because of his short legs. When it became time for the outfit to ship out, Conroy hid Stubby on board the troop ship. In order to keep the dog, the private taught him to salute his commanding officers warming their hearts to him.

Shangrala's                                                           Sgt. Stubby                                                           War Dog Hero

Stubby served with the 102nd Infantry, 26th Division in the trenches in France for 18 months and participated in four offensives and 18 battles. The loud noise of the bombs and gun fire did not bother him. He was never content to stay in the trenches but went out and found wounded soldiers.

Shangrala's                                                           Sgt.
 Stubby                                                           War Dog Hero

Stubby entered combat on February 5, 1918 at Chemin Des Dames, north of Soissons, and was under constant fire, day and night for over a month. In April 1918, during a raid to take Schieprey, Stubby was wounded in the foreleg by the retreating Germans throwing hand grenades. He was sent to the rear for convalescence, and as he had done on the front was able to improve morale. When he recovered from his wounds, Stubby returned to the trenches.

Shangrala's                                                           Sgt. Stubby                                                           War Dog Hero

After being gassed and nearly dying himself, Stubby learned to warn his unit of poison gas attacks, continued to locate wounded soldiers in no man’s land, and since he could hear the whine of incoming artillery shells before humans could, became very adept at letting his unit know when to duck for cover.

Shangrala's                                                           Sgt. Stubby                                                           War Dog Hero

He was solely responsible for capturing a German spy in the Argonne. The spy made the mistake of speaking German to him when they were alone. Stubby knew he was no ally and attacked him biting and holding on to him by the seat of his pants until his comrades could secure him.


Shangrala's                                                           Sgt. Stubby                                                           War Dog Hero

Shangrala's                                                           Sgt. Stubby                                                           War Dog Hero

Following the retaking of Chateau-Thierry by the US, the thankful women of the town made Stubby a chamois coat on which were pinned his many medals. There is also a legend that while in Paris with Corporal Conroy, Stubby saved a young girl from being hit by a car. At the end of the war, Conroy smuggled Stubby home.

Shangrala's                                                           Sgt. Stubby                                                           War Dog Hero

After returning home, Stubby became a celebrity and marched in, and normally led, many parades across the country. He met Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, and Warren G. Harding. Starting in 1921, he attended Georgetown University Law Center with Conroy, and became the Georgetown Hoyas’ team mascot. He would be given the football at halftime and would nudge the ball around the field to the amusement of the fans.

Shangrala's                                                           Sgt. Stubby                          
                                 War Dog Hero

Stubby was made a life member of the American Legion, the Red Cross, and the YMCA. In 1921, the Humane Education Society awarded him a special gold medal for service to his country. It was presented by General John Pershing.

Shangrala's                                                           Sgt. Stubby                                                           War Dog Hero

In 1926, Stubby died in Conroy’s arms. His remains are featured in The Price of Freedom: Americans at War exhibit at the Smithsonian. Stubby was honored with a brick in the Walk of Honor at the United States World War I monument, Liberty Memorial, in Kansas City at a ceremony held on Armistice Day, November 11, 2006.


Tell Your Friends About This War Hero


Shangrala's Sgt. Stubby                                
             War Dog Hero

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Mazda Foundation Begins Another Year of Grants… For Training Service Dogs

EMS has introduced trained service dogs to help cut costs 😉

h/t to Gary Patterson

January 15, 2013 Posted by | animal behavior, Animal or Pet Related Stories, Animal Related Education, animals, Dogs, Dogs, If Animlas Could Talk..., Just One More Pet, Man's Best Friend, NO KILL NATION, Service and Military Animals, Toughen Animal Abuse Laws and Sentences, We Are All God's Creatures, Working and Military Dogs and Related | , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Watch Glenn Beck’s Emotional Tribute To His Dog, Victor

TheBlaze: At the end of tonight’s Glenn Beck Program, the host paid a special tribute to a member of the Beck family not often mentioned on radio or television, the family’s canine elder statesman, Victor the German Shepherd.

Glenn Becks emotional tribute to his aging dog, Victor

Image: TheBlazeTV

As Glenn explained, Victor was the family’s first choice for protection after they started receiving death threats in 2001. This very special German Shepherd has stood guard for the Beck family for more than a decade. Victor’s presence and unwavering devotion has allowed Glenn to spend nights away from his family for the many business trips required by his work.

From Wednesday night’s Glenn Beck Program, the emotional tribute to the Beck family’s best friend.

Prayers for Glenn’s dog Victor

(Begin transcript) (Video of following transcript)

Tonight I want to leave you with a personal note: That great teachers are found sometimes in the most unlikely of places.

It was right after 9/11 that I received my first death threat. It was from a Muslim extremist that said he would kill me and my whole family if I didn’t stop talking. It was the first time I ever had any professional interaction with the FBI and we were told to go home. We didn’t even have curtains on the windows of our house at that time. I went home and I explained as calmly as I could to my wife as that we had to take sheets and blankets and put them on our window as soon as we could. That night we had a serious discussion with men who carried guns outside our bedroom door and in our property and we had a discussion about buying a gun. And my wife and I having not grown up around guns decided the answer was ‘No’. Laughably we thought we weren’t responsible enough to have one. So we were instructed to leave town for a month.

I was living in Florida at the time and I took my family to Los Angeles and we couldn’t tell anybody that we were in LA for a month. We knew we needed something in the house to protect us.

Great teachers are everywhere. And they’re found in unlikely places but they’ll teach us great lessons. Victor has taught our family great lessons in duty an devotion. I have been able to be away from my family on road trips with comfort because he has been a part of our life. And he is teaching me now a very difficult lesson in dignity.

He has been on watch every since we met him. He’s a service dog and he has become a much loved and loving part of our family. In addition to his job as protector his unwavering affection has been a lesson for our whole family. He came into our lives to protect us. And he has done that and much more. He’s an amazing dog and he has taught me and my family about protection, devotion, dependence, caring and he is now teaching us the hardest lesson: learning when to let go.

We have depended on him for years and now his body is failing him. And now he depends on us to protect him and to care for him and to ultimately to decide what’s best for him. Not for us. For him. The Victor decision is one I think we both know about. I know and he knows and I can see it in his eyes and we both know the other one knows that it doesn’t make it easier.

Victor’s lessons are ingrained in us forever. Protection, devotion and dignity.

I don’t know what this holiday is going to bring us, but it may be a very tough decision. I would ask you for your prayers for Victor and our family and the difficult decisions that we face. Thank you, Victor.

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December 13, 2012 Posted by | Animal or Pet Related Stories, animals, Dogs, Dogs, If Animlas Could Talk..., Just One More Pet, Man's Best Friend, Pet Friendship and Love, Pet Health, Pets, responsible pet ownership, Service and Military Animals, We Are All God's Creatures | , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Slain Marine’s service dog dies.. (Sad story.. Pictures of Lex and Lee)

Sad story.

According to AP..

Lex a bomb-sniffing military dog " that made national headlines when he was adopted by a fallen Marine’s family has died of cancer."

Back in 2007

" .. a rocket explosion in Iraq killed Cpl. Dustin Lee and injured his canine partner, Lex. The German shepherd, struck with shrapnel and whimpering from his own injuries, stayed by Lee’s side on the battlefield. Medics had to pull Lex away" from the body of Lee.

According to AP..

" Lee and Lex had worked closely together, scouring roads for explosives and sleeping together at night. When Lee died, his family spent months lobbying for permission to adopt the dog."

" A Marines spokesman said Lex died March 25th. He had been undergoing treatment at the Mississippi State University veterinary school.

In the final years of his life, Lex lived in Quitman, a small town in east Mississippi.

There, he provided a different kind of service: comfort.

See it – Link it:

ajc article  -  Originally Published Friday, April 20, 2012 9:08 PM by godogs  -  Attachment(s): lee4.jpg – cross-posted at Ken Malloy’s Blog  – h/t to MJ

April 21, 2012 Posted by | Adopt Just One More Pet, Animal or Pet Related Stories, Dogs, Dogs, Just One More Pet, Man's Best Friend, Service and Military Animals, Unusual Stories, We Are All God's Creatures | , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Tucson: Pets, Vets, Veterans Day

Therapy dogs bring relief and joy to Veterans

from the HSSA press release

veterans and pet therapyWhen Lady trots down the halls of the Tucson VA Medical Center, she is on a first-name basis with staff and patients.

Lady is a 10 year-old Sheltie and a therapy dog trained to give affection to strangers. Lady and her owner, Ernie Minchella, are volunteers in the Pets for Vets program at the hospital. They were certified through the Humane Society of Southern Arizona’s Pet VIP visitation program.

Ernie is a Vietnam vet and a former patient at the hospital. “When I was here I saw this man with a therapy dog, and asked about what he was doing. The rest is history.”

An animal visit can offer entertainment and a welcome distraction from pain. People often talk to the dogs, and research shows petting an animal can reduce a person’s blood pressure. Petting encourages use of hands and arms, stretching and turning.

“The Pets for Vets program is so important. We just love having the dogs come in to see the patients,” says Deborah Brookshire, VA Volunteer Services Program Manager.

Therapy pets give people a common interest and provide a focus for conversation. Many people in hospitals have had to give up their own animals and miss the unconditional love a pet provides. A dog pays little attention to age or physical ability, but accepts people as they are.

When Ernie and Lady come to visit, they stop in to see his fellow veterans. “I think I get more out of it than they do, and it’s great exercise for me and my Lady.”

by Karyn Zoldan on Nov. 11, 2011

———————

Waived adoption fees for active & retired military on Veterans Day
Plus, to thank active and retired military servicemen and women, the HSSA waived adoption fees (but not license fees) on all pets for military families on Veterans Day at the main shelter. Promoting a visit to the HSSA to be a hero to a homeless pet in need!

Tucson’s dog lovers will also join together to walk in support of pit bulls on Monday, November 14, 2011 at 4:30p.m.

(Louis Serna enjoys Lady’s company at the Tucson VA – Photo courtesy of the HSSA)

Source: TucsonCitizen.com

November 14, 2011 Posted by | Animal or Pet Related Stories, animals, Dogs, Holidays With Pets, If Animlas Could Talk..., Just One More Pet, Man's Best Friend, NO KILL NATION, Pets, Working and Military Dogs and Related | , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Kansas Prisoners Recycling Program Includes Making Dog Beds

For over a year now the inmates at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility in Kansas have been dismantling old used mattresses that would have otherwise ended up in area landfills and recycling them. The steel from the springs and the cotton batting in the mattresses are recycled, generating money for prison operations. Wood from the mattresses has been fashioned into flower boxes and benches. Ad foam from the mattresses is being used by the prisoners in order to make dog beds not only for the two dog training programs in the prison but for are shelters as well. Every part of the old mattresses that would have once taken up space in a landfill is being used either in beautifying the prison, as a donation to the community, or in making money for the prison general fund.

The dog beds are being used by the two dog training programs taking place in the prison the Lucky Dog program, where inmates train and socialize shelter dogs in order to prepare them for adoption, and by the prison’s Canine Assistance Rehabilitation, Education and Services, or C.A.R.E.S., program, where dogs are trained to be service dogs.

Since the program creating dog beds out of the old mattress began about 3 months ago nearly 150 beds have been made. It takes at least six hours to make the larger dog beds. The beds not used in the prison for the two dog training programs and not donated to the local shelter they work with will be sold at an area veterinary clinic. All money made from the sale of these beds will go into the care of the dogs including having treats and leashes for training.

Source:  Hutchinson

September 20, 2011 Posted by | Animal and Pet Photos, Dogs, Just One More Pet, Man's Best Friend, Pets, Service and Military Animals, Stop Euthenization | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lying Dogs vs. Useful Dogs… No Need for Machines at Airports! Dogs Do It Better!

Lying Dogs vs Useful Dogs

Video:  Real Airport Security

Chertoff & Company have raised the price of their mandatory full body irradiation devices from $160,000 to $250,000 since the winter.
Why the big price increase?

They’ve got a lot of Congressmen to pay off.

The good news is that the GOP (god bless their pointy little heads) have said "NO" to funding additional purchases of these things.
Personally, I made the decision back in November to stop flying into or out of any airport that uses these things which means I’m not flying in the US.

I’m lucky that I no longer have to fly for work and most of my family is within a reasonable drive.

The fact is my quality of life has improved noticeably since I stopped flying. No more stress of getting to the airport on time and dealing with all the crap that takes place there and on the planes.

I’m discovering all the great things I can do within 250 miles of my home and have learned that I’d never run out of interesting, pleasurable things to do within that radius in ten lifetimes.

Disney World? Las Vegas? Is it really worth getting on a plane to go to places like that and in doing so support outrageous conduct on the part of the government?

I don’t think so, but that’s just me.

There are dogs everywhere who need a job and purpose and there are millions of us who don’t want to be groped and have our privacy and rights infringed upon any longer!!  (Video: All Breeds:  Awareness)

May 18, 2011 Posted by | animal behavior, Animal or Pet Related Stories, Animal Rescues, animals, Dogs, Just One More Pet, Man's Best Friend, NO KILL NATION, Pet and Animal Training, Success Stories, We Are All God's Creatures | , , | Leave a comment

War Dog Remembered Years Later

(CNN) — Maybe it was the sound of the wind cutting through the wire. Perhaps he caught a small vibration with his keen eyes. Or it could have been a slight difference in the air’s smell.

Whatever it was, when Sarge noticed that his Marine Corps handler, Fred Dorr, was creeping down the wrong path in the Vietnam jungle, the German shepherd did something he’d never done out in the field: He looked at Dorr and barked, before taking a seat.

“When he sat down, I knew there was a trip wire. I was one step away from it,” remembered Dorr, who with his dog in 1969 was “walking point,” leading the way for a dozen soldiers. Had the hidden explosive device been tripped, “It would have gotten half of us.”

More than 40 years later, the gratitude and love Dorr, 59, feels for the dog he served with is as strong as ever. And it’s for this reason that Dorr, president of the Vietnam Dog Handler Association, drove from his Yoakum, Texas, home to be in Southern California this week.

About 200 Vietnam War dog handlers, who were trained to read and communicate with their canine partners, have gathered for a reunion. And on Saturday they’ll join an expected several thousand others for the 10th anniversary rededication of the War Dog Memorial at the March Air Reserve Base in Riverside.

During the Vietnam War, more than 4,000 dogs served in various positions, said Michael Lemish, a military dog historian and author of “Forever Forward: K-9 Operations in Vietnam.”

The scout dogs, such as Sarge, walked with their handlers ahead of patrols — making them the first target for ambushes or hidden explosives. There were also sentry dogs who guarded bases, tracker dogs who followed the trail of enemies and mine and booby trap dogs who sniffed out dangers hidden beneath the ground.

They were treated as obsolete equipment. And if you were a handler, you couldn’t see them that way.
–Jack Kowall, Vietnam War dog handler

RELATED TOPICS

The Viet Cong placed a bounty on the dogs because they were so effective, Lemish said. All told, he estimated the K-9 teams averted more than 10,000 casualties. But at the end of the war, only about 200 dogs came home. The rest who had survived were either euthanized or turned over to the South Vietnamese — left behind, a surplus of war.

“They were treated as obsolete equipment. And if you were a handler, you couldn’t see them that way,” said Jack Kowall, 61, who keeps a framed picture of himself and Eric, the black lab and shepherd mix he worked with, atop his desk in Marietta, Georgia. “When that’s your dog, that’s your dog. He sees you in danger, he’s going to respond. Unconditional love — it’s all for you. You can’t help but love him.”

On patrols, Kowall used hand motions to speak to Eric. In turn, the animal spoke back through his movements. His ears would shoot up and turn in the direction of suspicious noise. The hair on his back would stand up if danger was close. If he wanted Kowall to stop moving, he’d look back at him.

Off-duty, Eric was playful. He liked to have his neck scratched and would roll around on the ground. The 110-pound dog would cuddle up to Kowall at night when they were out in the field, and he’d eat out of his handler’s helmet. Whenever Kowall could, he’d give his closest friend steak.

The men who’d walk behind the pair on missions were always different. But a scout handler and his dog were a constant, as the duo bounced between different assignments.

When Jeffrey Bennett, founder and former CEO of Nature’s Recipe pet foods, first learned about the dogs who’d served and the fate of so many of them, he set out to teach others. Based on about three years of research, he co-produced the documentary “War Dogs: America’s Forgotten Heroes,” which first aired 11 years ago on the Discovery Channel.

Donations earned through this film allowed Bennett, now president of the War Dog Memorial, to commission three monuments, sculptures featuring a German shepherd and his handler.

The first one was unveiled at the March Field Air Museum in Riverside. A second was installed at Fort Benning, Georgia. The third remains in storage, Bennett said. The original goal to place it in Washington beside the Vietnam Veterans Memorial or at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia remains an elusive dream.

Dogs have long served with the U.S. military, said Lemish, who also wrote “War Dogs: A History of Loyalty and Heroism.” During World War I, the dogs borrowed from the French and British worked as messengers and assisted the Red Cross by finding the wounded on battlefields, he said. The American K-9 corps, Lemish said, really began during World War II, when, among other tasks, thousands of dogs donated by civilians patrolled shorelines.

Back then, dogs sent abroad were retrained and returned to civilian life, but that practice had changed by the time U.S. forces entered Vietnam, Lemish said. Later, galvanized by the attention earned through the documentary, Vietnam War dog handlers began to call for change.

Johnny Mayo, 60, hadn’t spoken to another dog handler in 30 years when he showed up in Washington for his first reunion in 2000. But as he talked to the 250 others in attendance, he realized the power of what they shared.

“You go through the war, and you always remember the bond you have, the bond with the dog,” said Mayo, whose dog Kelly once yanked him up a bank from a rice paddy, out of the way of mortar fire. “On that first trip to the [Vietnam Veterans Memorial] wall, it was a reunion with the spirits of our dogs.”

Later, Mayo, of Lexington, South Carolina, would go on to write his own book and establish a traveling exhibit to pay tribute to the dogs who’d served.

Washington also took notice. In November 2000, President Clinton signed into law legislation that established a military working dog adoption program. Now the dogs working in Iraq and Afghanistan will have a chance to find comfortable homes when they return from war.

For Dorr, of the Vietnam Dog Handler Association, this has been a blessing. He said leaving his partner Sarge behind, all those decades ago, haunted him.

“A lot of us [handlers] suffered PTSD,” he said, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder. “It’s like leaving your kid back there.”

But he now has Bluma, the war dog he adopted from Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. The German shepherd, who has hip problems, looks uncannily like Sarge, he said, and having him around is a source of comfort.

“I’m taking care of an old vet,” Dorr said, “and he’s taking care of me.”

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • Several thousand people will gather Saturday at a War Dog Memorial in California
  • Of the more than 4,000 dogs who served in Vietnam, only about 200 came home
  • Dogs, many of them euthanized, help to avert more than 10,000 casualties, historian estimates
  • In 2000, the U.S. changed policy, setting up a military working dog adoption program

By Jessica Ravitz, CNN – February 12, 2010 2:48 p.m. EST

Posted:  Just One More Pet

February 13, 2010 Posted by | animal behavior, Animal or Pet Related Stories, animals, Just One More Pet, Success Stories, Unusual Stories | , , , , | 7 Comments

EMS has introduced trained service dogs to help cut costs ;-)

Canines have been used for police work, search & rescue, tracking, service dogs, and a variety of other tasks.  Now they’re assisting   EMS  and doing so at a much lower cost.

See the examples below:



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Breathe, damn you, breathe!

January 30, 2010 Posted by | Animal and Pet Photos, animal behavior, animals, Just One More Pet, On The Lighter Side, pet fun, Pets | , , | 2 Comments